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aiif  <»  ••*«#«#•«#•  *•••«••#  s»  9 !»  ^  «H8^ ' 


'76 


Cf)c  ^tot^  of  tbt  Ji^atiom 


MEDIEVAL  ROME 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS. 


ROME.     By    Akthuk    Oilman, 

M.A. 
THE    JEWS.       By    Piof.    J.    K. 

HOSMER. 

GERMANY.  By  Kev.  S.  Baking- 
Goui.u,  M.A. 

CARTHAGE.  By  Prof.  Alfked 
J.  Church. 

ALEXANDER'S  EMPIRE.  By 
Prof.  J.  P.  Maiiai-iy. 

THE  M:00RS  in  SPAIN.  By 
Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

ANCIENT  EGYPT.  15y  Prof. 
George  Kawlinson. 

HUNGARY.  By  Prof.  Arminius 
VaiMhi;;ry. 

THE  SARACENS.  By  Arthur 
Oilman,  M.A. 

IRELAND.  By  the  Hon.  Emily 
Lawless. 

CHALDEA.  By  ZiiNAiUE  A. 
Ragozin. 

THE  GOTHS.  By  Henry  Brad- 
ley. 

ASSYRIA.  By  Z^naide  A.  Ra- 
gozin. 

TURKEY. 
Poole. 

HOLLAND.        By     Prof. 

THOROI.I)    l^OGERS. 

MEDI^EVAL       FRANCE.         By 

OUSTAVE    MASSON. 

PERSIA.  By  S.  O.  \V.  Ben- 
jamin. 

PHOENICIA.  By  Prof.  Oeo. 
Kawlinson. 

MEDIA.  By  Zenaide  A.  Ra- 
gozin. 

THE  HANSA  TOWNS.  By 
Helen  Zimmern. 

EARLY  BRITAIN.  By  Vi„i. 
Alfred  I.  Chuucil 

THE  BARBARY  CORSAIRS. 
liv  Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

RUSSIA.  BvW.  R  MORFlLL.  M.A. 

THE  JEWS  UNDER  THE 
ROMANS.  BvW.  D.  Morrison. 

SCOTLAND.  By  John  Mackin- 
tosh. LL.D. 

SWITZERLAND.  By  Mrs.  Lina 
Hug  ;iiid  R.  SlEAD. 

MEXICO.     By  SusAN  HALE. 

PORTUGAL,         By     H.    Morse 

STEI'HENS. 


By   Stanley    Lane- 
J.     E. 


29.  THE    NORMANS.      By.   Sarah 

Orne  Iewett. 

30.  THE     BYZANTINE     EMPIRE. 

By  C.  W.  C.  Oman. 

3 1 .  SICILY  :    Phoenician,  Greek  and 

Roman.  By  the  late  Prof.  E. 
A.  Vhkvmas. 

32.  THE      TUSCAN      REPUBLICS. 

Bv  Bella  Duffy. 

33.  POLAND.     By   W.  R.    Morfill. 

>LA. 

34.  PARTHIA.       By    Prof.    Oeorgu 

Rawi.inson. 
35    AUSTRALIAN     COMMON- 
WEALTH.       By      Oreville 
Tregarthen. 

36.  SPAIN.     By  H.  E.  Watts. 

37.  JAPAN.      By  David     Murray. 

Ph.D. 

35.  SOUTH  AFRICA.      By   Oeorge 

M  Theal. 
^g.  VENICE,     By  Aleihea  Will. 

40.  THE     CRUSADES.      By     T.    A. 

Al^cHER  and  C.  L.  KiNGSFORD. 

41.  VEDIC    INDIA.     By    Z.   A.    Ra 

GOZIN. 

42.  WEST  INDIES  and  the  SPANISH 

MAIN.     Hv  James  Rodway. 

43.  Bohemia;     By  c.  edmunh 

^LA^:l;K■E.  [>LA. 

THE  BALKANS,  liv  W  Millki  . 
CANADA,      By  Sir  J.  G.  BoURi- 

Nor.  LL.D. 
BRITISH    INDIA,      By    R.   \V. 

Frazer.   LL.B. 
modern  FRANCE.     ByANDRE- 

Le  Bon. 
THE  FRANKS.    By  Lewis  Ser- 

CiEANT. 

AUSTRIA.      By  Sidney  Whit- 

RLAN 

MODERN  ENGLAND.  Before 
tlic  Rc-fonn  JiiU.  By  JCSTIX 
McCarthy. 

51.  CHINA.    Bv  Prof.  R.  K.D0UGL.\S. 

52.  MODERN  ENGLAND.    From  the 

Rc-fonn  Bill  to  the  Present 
Time.     Pa'  (ustin  McCarthy. 

Vv  MODERN  SPAIN.  Bv  Marti x 
A.  S.  Hume. 

S4.  MODERN  ITALY.  Bv  Ph:tro 
Orsl 

s>  NORWAY.     Bv  H.  H.  Boyesen. 

S().  WALES.     Bv  O.  JL  Edwards. 


London  :  T.  FlSHEl-J   U\WL\,  Paternoster  SgiARp:,  E.C. 


Builders  of  Greater  Britain. 

Edited  liy  H.  F.  Wilson. 

A  Set  of  10  Volumes,  each  with   Photogravure  Frontispiece 
and  Map,  large  crown  8vo,  cloth,  5s.  each. 


List  of  Voliiiucs. 

1.  SIR  WALTER  RALEGH;  the  British  Dominion  of  the  West.     By 

Martix  a.  S.  Hr.Mi:. 

2.  SIR   THOMAS   MAITLAND ;   the   Mastery  of  the    Mediterranean. 

I'.\-  WAi/ncR  Fki:\ve\  Louh. 

3.  JOHN  CABOT  AND  HIS    SONS  ;  the  Discovery  of  North  America. 

i;\-  C   IxAYMnxi)  i;i;azi,i;y.  M.A. 

4.  EDWARD  GIBBON  WAKEFIELD  ;  the  Colonisation  of  South  Australia 

ami  Xew  Zealaiul.     Bv  K.  Gakxett.  CI',..  LL.l). 

5.  LORD  CLIVE;  the  Foundation  of  British  Rule  in  India.     Bv  SiK 

A.  |.  Aki;i-TH\(.)T,  K. C.S.I. .  C.I.K. 

6.  ADMIRAL  PHILLIP ;  the  Founding  of  New  South  Wales.    By  Louis 

Hel'kk  and  Walter  IeI'Ferv. 

7.  RAJAH  BROOKE;  the  Englishman  as  Ruler  of  an  Eastern  State. 

liv  Sir  Spenser  St.  jonx,  G.C.M.Ci. 
N.  SIR  STAMFORD   RAFFXES  ;    England  in   the   Far  East.      F.y  the 
lujrroR. 


Masters  of  Medicine. 

Large  crown  8vo,  cloth,  3s.  6d.  each. 

List  of  Vol  nines. 

1.  JOHN  HUNTER.      Bv  STEPHEN  Pac.ET. 

2.  WILLIAM  HARVEY.      Bv  D'Akcv  Power. 

3.  SIR  JAMES  SIMPSON.    'Bv  H.  Laixg  Goudon. 

4.  WILLIAM  STOKES.      15v  Sli^  Wim.iam  StokES. 

3.  SIR  BENJAMIN  BRODIE.  Bv  TiMoTHY  Hor.MES. 
'<>.  CLAUDE  BERNARD.  P.v  Sir  Michael  Postek-. 
7.  HERMANN  VON  HELMHOLTZ.     I'.y  John  G.  :\IcKeni)R1CK. 

/;/  pirpiirntion. 

THOMAS  SYDENHAM.     Bv  ].  P.  Payne. 
ANDREAS  VESALIUS.      I'.y  C.  L.  Taylor. 

London  :  T.   PISHER  PXWIX,  Patehnosteu  Souaue,  E.G. 


MEDIy^VAL   ROME 

FROM    HILDEBPvANa 
TO     CLEMENT     ^^III, 

1073—1600 


BY 

WILLIAM    MILLER,    M.A. 

AUTHOU  OK   "THV.   HAI.KAXS,"   ETC. 


SEI'TEM    URBS    ALTA    JUlHS,    TOTO   QU^    PR.'ESIDET   ORKI  " 

PROl'ERTIUS,    iv.     II,    5; 


XonDoii 
T.     FISHER     UNWIN 

PATERNOSTER   SQUARE 

NEW   YORK:    G.    F.    PUTNAM'S   SONS 

1901 


Copyright  by  T.  Fishek  Uxwix,  1901 
(For  Great  Britain) 

COPYRIGHT    BY    G.    P.    PUTNAM'S   SOXS,    IQOl 

(For  the  United  States  of  America) 


PREFACE 


The  idea  of  the  present  work  was  suggested  to  me 
by  the  lack  of  a  short  history  of  Medieval  Rome. 
Of  the  thousands  of  British  and  American  visitors, 
who  now  flock  to  the  Eternal  City,  few  have  the 
patience  or  the  leisure  to  peruse,  even  in  an  English 
translation,  the  great  work  of  Gregorovius.  Yet,  as 
Goethe  said,  the  traveller  sees  in  Rome  only  what  he 
takes  to  Rome  ;  and,  without  some  knowledge  of  its 
chequered  annals  during  the  Middle  Ages,  it  is  im- 
possible to  appreciate  and  enjoy  a  large  part  of  its 
archaeological  and  artistic  treasures.  I  have  accor- 
dingly endeavoured  in  the  following  pages  to  narrate 
the  most  striking  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  city 
between  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  and  the  end  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  confining  myself  as  far  as 
possible  to  those  events  of  which  Rome  was  the 
theatre.  Original  research  is,  of  course,  out  of  the 
question  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  but  I  have  gone  in 
all  cases  to  the  best  authorities.  1  have  accordingly- 
based  the  story  in  the  main  on  the  latest  German 
edition  of  Gresforovius'  GescJiichte  dcr  Stadt  Roi/i  iin 


X  PREFACE 

Mittelalter  (Stuttgart,  1886-96),  and  on  Von  Reu- 
mont's  Geschiclite  der  Stadt  Rom.  I  have  also  con- 
sulted those  chapters  of  Gibbon  and  of  Hallam's  Europe 
during  the  Middle  Ages,  which  deal  with  the  subject ; 
Muratori's  Rerinn  Italicarum  Scriptores ;  Milman's 
History  of  Latin  Christianity,  vols,  iv.-ix.  ;  Stephens' 
Hildebrand  and  his  Times ;  Ranke's  Die  rdmisehen 
Pdpste,  B.  i.  ;  Roscoe's  Life  of  Lorenzo  de"  Medici  and 
LJfe  of  L^eo  X.,  as  well  as  other  recognised  authorities 
on  the  period.  During  several  months'  stay  in  Rome 
at  various  times  I  have  attempted  to  familiarise  myself 
with  the  features  of  the  city,  and  I  have  also  visited 
most  of  the  places  in  Italy  and  elsewhere  to  which 
the  narrative  makes  incidental  allusion. 

W.  M. 
Chelse.a,  October  18,  1901. 


CONTENTS 


HiLDEBRAND    AND    HIS    TlMES 

Contrast  between  Rome  and  x\thens — The  Papacy  in  the 
eleventh  century— Origin  of  Hildebrand — He  becomes  the 
Minister  of  six  Popes — The  Council  of  1059— Alliance  with 
the  Normans — Papal  schism — Hildebrand  elected  Pope  as 
Gregory  VH. — His  reforms — Conspiracy  of  Cencius — 
Henry  IV.  at  Canossa — His  attacks  on  Rome — The  Nor- 
mans capture  the  city — Death  of  Gregory. 


PAGE 
1-22 


n: 


Arnold  of  Brescia 


23-52 


victor  HI.  and  Urban  II. — The  Crusaders  at  Rome — 
Paschalis  II. — The  families  of  Colonna  and  Corsi — Henry  V. 
in  Rome — Gelasius  II.  and  Calixtus  II. — A  Jewish  Pope — 
Origin  of  the  Frangipani  and  Pierleoni — Restoration  of  the 
Senate — Career  of  Arnold  of  Brescia — Violent  death  of 
Lucius  II. — St.  Bernard  and  the  Romans — Nicholas  Break- 
spear  elected  Pope  as  Hadrian  IV. — His  origin — His  meeting 
with  Barbarossa — Death  of  Arnold — Hadrian's  end  and 
character — Battle  of  Monte  Porzio — Reign  of  Alexander  III. 
— State  of  the  Roman  monuments  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century. 


XI 1  CONTENTS 

III. 

PAGE 

Innocent  III.  and  the  Zenith  of  the  Papacy     53-88 

Consecration  of  the  Pope — Early  career  of  Innocent  III.  — 
The  Orsini — Innocent  and  England,  France,  and  Germany 
— His  policy  and  character— Franciscans  and  Dominicans — 
Ilonorius  III.  and  Gregory  IX. — Frederick  II.  and  the 
Papacy — Innocent  IV.  in  e.xile — Power  of  the  Senator — 
Brancaleone  —  Charles  of  Anjou  at  Rome  —  Battle  of 
Benevento — Don  Enrique  Senator — Conradin's  passage 
through  Rome,  defeat,  and  execution. 

IV. 

The  Hermit-Pope  and  the  First  Ji;bilee      .     89-113 

Power  of  Charles  of  Anjou — Gregory  X.  regulates  papal 
elections — The  "son  of  the  she-bear"- — The  Sicilian  Vespers 
— Election  of  Celestine  V. — Yiii  gran  rijittto — Boniface  VIII. 
— The  Jubilee  of  1300 — Dante  at  Rome — Conflict  with 
France — Boniface  at  Anagni — Election  of  Clement  V. — 
State  of  literature  and  art  during  the  thirteenth  century — 
Papal  residcnces^The  towers  of  Rome — Old  plan  of  the  • 
city. 

V. 
Rome  during  the  "Babylonish  Captivity"       i  14-144 

Clement  \'.  at  Avignon — Tire  at  the  Laterau — Hear)-  \TI. 
crowned  Emperor  at  Rome — Flis  death — Election  of  John 
XXII. — Louis  the  Bavarian's  coronation — He  deposes  the 
Pope — Petrarch's  visit  to  Rome — He  receives  the  laurel 
wreath — Origin  of  Cola  di  Rienzo — His  mission  to  Avignon 
— His  successful  revolution  at  Rome — He  becomes  Tribune 
— His  administration  and  ideas — His  fall — The  second  anno 
santo — Cola's  restoration  and  death. 


VI. 

The  Return  of  the  Papacy  .         .         .     145-167 

Charles  IN'.'s  coronation  at  ]\.ome — Sir  John  Hawkwood — 
Urban    \ .  visits   Rome — St.    Bridget's  prophecies — Gregory 


cox  TENTS  XI 11 

i'.\<;k 
XI.  removes  the  Holy  See  from  Avignon  -The  Conclave  of 
1378 — "Great  Schism  of  the  West" — Boniface  IX. 's  auto- 
cratic measures — Innocent  VII.  and  Gregory  XII. — A  pirate 
as  Pope — The  Council  of  Constance — Martin  V.  sole  Pope — 
Stale  of  Rome  at  this  period — Buildings,  dress,  and  shows. 


VII. 
The  Age  of  .Ene.\s  Sylvius  ....     168-199 

Efibrts  of  Martin  V.  to  restore  Rome — Coronation  of  Sigis- 
mund — Flight  of  Eugenius  IV. — Career  of  Vitelleschi — 
Attempted  re-union  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches 
— A  Duke  of  .Savoy  as  Pope — Nicholas  V. —  His  love  of 
building — Last  coronation  of  an  Emperor  in  Rome — Con- 
spiracy of  Porcaro — The  Vatican  Library — The  first  Borgia 
Pope — .Eneas  Sylvius  elected — The  Turkish  danger — The 
head  of  St.  Andrew — Death  and  character  of  Pius  II. 

VIII. 

Rome  under  Sixtus  IV.  ....     200-221 

Paul  II. — Revival  of  the  Carnival — Revision  of  the  Statutes 
— The  Roman  Academy — Skanderbeg  in  Rome — Sixtus  IV. 
— Papal  nepotism — The  seventh  Jubilee — Conspiracy  of  the 
Pazzi — The  Turks  at  Otranto — Battle  of  Campo  Morto — 
Sixtus  as  a  builder — Painting — Innocent  VIII. — Story  of 
Djem — Election  of  Rodrigo  Borgia  as  Pope. 

IX. 

The  P.aiwcy  of  Alex.^nder  VI.     .  .  .     222-246 

Aggrandisement  of  Ciesar  and  Lucrezia  Borgia — Delimitation 
of  the  New  World — Expedition  of  Charles  VIII.  of  France 
— Murder  of  the  Duke  of  Gandia — Crimes  of  Civsar — 
Marriage  of  Lucrezia — Reign  of  terror  at  Rome — Death  ot 
Alexander  VI. — His  character — Building  and  art  during  his 
reign — Appearance  of  Rome  in  1500. 


XIV  CONTEXTS 

i'A(;ii 
X. 

Rome  during  the  Renaissance      .         .         .     247-287 

Excitement  of  the  people — Pius  III.  and  Julius  II. — End  of 
Caesar  Borgia — ^Julius  II.  and  \'enice — "A  second  Mars" — 
The  pax  Roinana — Battle  near  Ravenna — Ariosto  as  envoy 
— ^Julius  II.  as  a  builder — Bramante — The  rebuilding  of  St. 
Peter's — The  Belvedere — Michael  Angelo — The  "Moses" 
— Raphael — Luther  in  Rome — Leo  X. — The  Portuguese 
Embassy — Francois  I.  in  Italy — Conspiracy  of  the  Cardinals — 
Revels  of  the  papal  Court — Beginning  of  the  Reformation — 
Death  and  character  of  Leo  X. — Society  of  the  period — 
Literature — The  Humanists — The  drama — Art — The  stanze 
and  loggie — Raphael  and  Agostino  Chigi — Architecture — 
Population  of  Rome. 

XL 

The  Sack:  of  Rome 288-305 

Election  of  Hadrian  \  I. — His  unpopular  reforms — Clement 
\TI. — Battle  of  Pavia — Siege  of  Rome  by  the  Constable  de 
Bourbon — His  death — The  sack  of  the  city — Charles  \'.  and 
the  Papacy — Aspect  of  Rome — Inundation  of  the  Tiber. 


XII. 

The  Inquisition  and  the  Jesuits  .         .     306-340 

Paul  HI. — Entry  of  Charles  ^^ — Excavations — .Scheme  of 
fortifications — Ignatius  Loyola — The  Order  of  Jesuits — The 
Inquisition — Julius  HI.  and  Marcellus  II. — Paul  W . — Alva 
before  Rome — The  Index  Expurgatoriits — Meisures  against 
the  Jews — Pius  I\'. — Trial  of  the  Carafa  family — Carlo 
Borromeo  —  Building  in  this  reign  —  Pius  \ .  :  the  last 
canonised  Pope — Battle  of  Lepanto — Gregory  XIII. — Tasso 
and  Montaigne  in  Rome — Discovery  of  the  Catacombs — The 
Gregorian  calendar. 


CONTENTS  XV 

I'AGK 
XIII. 

Rome  under  Sixtus  V.  .         .         .         .  341-366 

Origin  of  Sixtus  \". — X'ittoria  Accoramijoni — Suppression  of 
brigandage — Finance  :  the  Monti — Reconstitution  of  the 
College  of  Cardinals — The  Spanish  Armada — The  recon- 
struction of  Rome — Three  short  pontificates — Clement  \TII. 
— I^ecline  of  the  city — Traged)-  of  the  Cenci — Inundation 
of  1598 — Death  of  Tasso — Giordano  Bruno's  execution — 
Conclusion. 

Index       .........    367 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


St.  Pf.ter's.     Fro/ii  a  photo,  by  Fratelli  Aliitari   Frontispiece 


Castle  of  Sant"  AN(;Kro.     From  a  pJioto.  by  Fratelli 

Aliiiari        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  •      1 7 

(iKF,(;ORV  \'II.     From  the  Sta/ize  of  Raphael.     From  a 

photo,  by  Fratelli  Aliiiari     .  .  .  .  .      2\ 

Hadrian  I\'.  From  a  print  in  the  British  Museum  .  37 
Tomb    of    Cecilia    Meteli.a.      From    a    photo,    by 

Fratelli  Aliiiari  .  .  .  .  .  .  •      5/" 

Orange  Tree  of  St.  Dominic.  From  a  photo.  .  61 
San    Lorenzo  fuori    i.e    Mura.     Fr(ni!  a  photo,  by 

Fratelli  Aliiiari 63 

Palazzo    dei    Conservatori.      From    a    photo,     by 

Fratelli  Aliiiari 69 

S.\N  Giovanni   I)Ec;li    Eremiii,    Palermo.     From  a 

photo,   by  Afrs.   Miller 94 


XVlll  LIST   OF  II.I.USTRATIOXS 

i'.\<;k 
San    Oiovanni    in    Laterano.       Frovi    a   plioto.    hy 

Fratelli  A/i/iari .         .  .  .  .  .         .    loi 

Statue    of    Cola    di    Riexzo.      From   a  photo,    hy 

Fratelli  Alinari .  .  .  .         .  .         -143 

The  Colosseum.     From  a  photo,  hy  Fratelli  Aliuari    165 

The  Pantheon,     pyom  a  photo,  hy  Fratelli  Alinari    169 

PoNTE  NoMENTANO.     From  a  photo,  ly  Mrs.   Miller  184 

The  \\atican    Library.     From   a  photo,  hy  F?-atelli 

Alinari        .  .  .  .  .  .  .187 

Medal  of  Pius  II.     From  ''Die  italietiischeu  Schau- 

miiiizeii  des  fiinfzehnten  Jahrhiuiderts''         .  •    195 

Palazzo    di    Venezia.      F)-om    a    photo,    ly   Fratelli 

Alinari        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .202 

Medal    of    Sixtus     IV.      From    ''Die    italienischen 

ScPiaumiinzen  des  f/infzehnten  Jahrhtnnlerts''         .   207 
The   SisTiNE   Chapel.      From    a  photo,    hy    Fratelli 

Alinari        .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .211 

The   C'astle   at    Ostia.       From    a  photo,    hy   Mrs. 

Miller 213 

Alexander  VI.     From  the  Sale  Bori:;ia  of  the  Vatican. 

From  a  photo,  hy  Fratelli  Alinari  .  .  -223 

Sta.  Trinita  DEI  Monti.     From  a  photo,  hy  Fratelli 

Alinari        ........   239 

Theatre  of  Marcellus.     From  a  photo,  hy  Fratelli 

Alinari        ........   243 


UST    OF  JLLUSTA'ATIOMS  XIX 

I'AGE 

The    Horse-Tamers.       From    a    photo,    by    Fratelli 

Alinari        .  .  .  .  ■  245 

The  "Moses"  of  Michael  Angelo.     From  a  photo. 

/)}'  Fratelli  Aliiiari        .  .  .  .  .  -263 

Incendio    del    Borgo.      From    a  photo,    by   Fratelli 

Alinari        .  .         .         .  .  .         .         -283 

Equestrian   Statue  of   Marcus  Aurelius.     From 

a  photo,  by  Fratelli  ^llinari  ....  309 
The  Gesu.  From  a  photo,  by  Fratelli  Alinari  .  313 
Porta    San    Sef.astiano.      From   a  photo,    by   Jfrs. 

Miller 329 

Fontana  delle  Tartarughe.         From  a  photo,  by 

Fratelli  Alinari  .  .  .  .  .  .  -335 

Gregoriu.s  XIII.   PoN.   Max.     From  a  print  in  the 

British  Museum .  .  .  .  .  .  -339 

SiXTUS  V.     From  the   Gallery  of  the  Lateran.     From 

a  photo,  by  Fratelli  Alinari  ....  342 
Scala  Santa.  From  a  photo,  by  Fratelli  Alinari  .  350 
Beatrice  Cencl    Fi-om  Guido  Rent's  portrait.    From 

a  photo,  by  Fratelli  Alinari         .  .  ■  -357 

Ponte  Rotto.     From  a  photo,  by  Fratelli  Alinari   .   361 


MEDIEVAL    ROME 

(1073— 1600) 


IIILDEBRAND   AND    HIS   TIMES 

No  one  who  visits  both  Rome  and  Athens  at  the 
present  day  can  fail  to  be  struck  by  one  remarkable 
difference  between  the  two  famous  cities,  which  stand 
for  so  much  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Wiiile 
Athens  is  composed  of  a  very  old  group  of  ruins  and 
a  brand-new  town,  which  was  rapidly  made  to  order 
in  Germany  ;  while  every  trace  of  that  mediaeval 
splendour,  which  once  distinguished  the  court  of  the 
h^'ank  dukes,  has  vanished  ;  in  Rome,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  have  side  by  side  the  works  of  the  kings, 
the  memorials  of  the  Republic,  the  monuments  of  the 
Kmpire,  the  remains  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the 
modern  erections  that  have  sprung  up  since  1870. 
Thus,  while  at  Athens  there  is  a  sudden  transition 
from  buildings,  which  were  constructed  in  the  golden 
age  of  Perikles,  to  houses  planned  in  the  reigns  of 
Otho  and  George,  Rome  furnishes  us  with  an  almost 


2  HILDhBRAND   AND   HIS    TIMES 

unbroken  series  of  historical  monuments  from  the 
time  of  Romukis  down  to  that  of  Vittorio  Emanuele 
III.  The  rise  of  the  Papacy  saved  the  Imperial  city 
from  falling  in  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  condition  of 
a  decayed  town,  and,  after  it  had  ceased  to  be  the 
capital  of  a  vast  Empire,  it  was  still  the  centre  of  the 
religious  world. 

No  period  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy,  and,  there- 
fore, of  that  mediaeval  Rome,  which  it  represents,  is 
more  important  than  the  eleventh  century,  that  same 
century  which  witnessed  the  transformation  of  our 
own  history  by  the  Norman  conquest  of  England. 
Under  Benedict  IX.,  the  Roman  Church  reached  a 
level  of  degradation,  almost  as  low  as  that  to  which 
it  descended  under  the  Borgias.  The  Vicar  of  Christ 
sold  his  high  office  to  Gregory  VI.,  in  return  for  an 
assignment  to  his  private  uses  of  the  Peter's  Pence 
that  were  paid  by  the  English.  The  loss  of  the 
temporal  power  had  accompanied  this  abandonment 
of  spiritual  aims.  The  pilgrim  to  the  Holy  City  was 
lucky  if  he  escaped  the  bands  of  robbers  which 
infested  the  approaches  to  it.  Within  the  walls,  the 
churches  were  allowed  to  fall  into  ruin,  and  the  priests 
to  run  riot  in  every  kind  of  debauchery.  Murder  and 
outrage  were  of  nightly  occurrence  in  the  streets,  and 
the  Roman  nobles  did  not  spare  even  the  altar  of 
St.  Peter  in  their  quest  for  plunder.  They  were, 
indeed,  the  arbiters  of  the  Papacy,  and  made  Popes 
at  their  will,  just  as  in  former  days  the  praetorians 
had  proclaimed  emperors  according  as  it  suited  their 
purpose.  In  short,  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century,   Rome   and   its  Church   were   in   the    lowest 


ORIGIN    OF  HILDEBRAND  3 

depths  of  humiliation,  when  suddenly  there  arose  a 
man  who  raised  the  Papacy  to  a  pinnacle  which  it 
had  never  occupied  before,  and  made  the  name  of 
Rome  once  more  feared  and  respected  by  the  great 
ones  of  the  earth. 

Hildebrand  was  the  son,  it  is  said,  of  a  poor  joiner 
of  Soana,  in  the  marshes  of  Tuscany,  and  belonged, 
as  his  name  implies,  to  the  Lombard  stock,  with 
which  that  district  was  largely  peopled.  Courtly 
genealogists  endeavoured,  in  the  usual  fashion,  to 
exalt  his  family  when  he  had  become  famous,  and  it 
was  pretended  that  he  belonged  to  the  noble  family 
of  the  Aldobrandini.  Marvellous  tales  are  told  about 
his  infancy — how  fire  played  around  his  head — as  it 
had  played  around  that  of  the  youthful  Servius 
Tullius,  and  how  his  first  exercise  in  the  alphabet 
was  to  put  together  a  phrase  emblematic  of  universal 
dominion.  But  the  facts  are,  that  he  went  as  a  lad  to 
Rome,  where  his  uncle  was  Abbot  of  the  Monastery 
of  Sta.  Maria  on  the  Aventine,  that  he  became  a  monk, 
and  entered  the  order  of  Cluny.  But  the  master- 
mind of  Hildebrand  was  not  likely  to  be  "  cabined 
and  confined  "  within  the  narrow  limits  of  a  monastic 
cloister.  Small  and  insignificant  in  appearance,  he 
possessed  boundless  ambition  and  the  practical 
abilities  to  gratify  it,  for,  if  he  despised  the  world,  he 
wished  to  show  his  contempt  by  conquering  it.  While 
others  composed  from  the  safe  recesses  of  some 
remote  hermitage  envenomed  diatribes  against  the 
modern  Gomorrha  of  the  Seven  Hills,  he  cast  about  for 
the  means  of  reforming  the  fallen  Papacy  and  restoring 
it    to    its    historical    functions.     When    Gregory    VI. 


4  HILDEBRAND   AND   HIS    TIMES 

purchased  that  office  from  Benedict  IX.  in  1045, 
Hildebrand  foresaw  that,  tainted  as  was  the  new 
Pope's  election  with  simony,  he  might  yet  be  made 
an  instrument  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church.  He 
became  his  chaplain  and  confidential  adviser,  and 
when  Henry  HI.  of  Germany  deposed  the  Pope  at 
the  (Council  of  Sutri,  Hildebrand  accompanied  his 
master  into  exile  at  Cologne,  and  meditated  there  on 
the  liberation  of  the  Papacy  from  its  position  of 
dependence  on  the  will  of  a  German  sovereign. 
Three  years  later,  when  the  reforming  Pope,  Leo  IX., 
entered  Rome  in  the  garb  of  an  apostle,  Hildebrand 
was  one  of  his  scanty  retinue,  and  the  real  power 
behind  him.  From  this  moment  he  played,  under 
six  Popes,  the  part  of  an  omnipotent  minister,  without 
whose  consent  nothing  was  done,  until  at  last  he  not 
only  governed  in  the  name  of  others  as  minister,  but 
also  reigned  as  Pope  himself 

Before  his  death,  Leo  IX.  commended  the  fortunes 
of  the  Church  to  the  care  of  his  trusty  adviser,  and 
Hildebrand,  not  yet  ripe  for  the  supreme  post,  went 
to  Germany  to  beg  the  Emperor  to  appoint  another 
reforming  German,  who  would  continue  the  policy 
already  begun  under  Leo.  The  Emperor  consented, 
and  Victor  II.,  the  new  Pope,  was  Hildebrand's 
nominee.  Under  him  and  his  successor,  Stephen  IX., 
the  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  Church 
continued,  but  the  next  Pope,  Benedict  X.,  was  a 
creature  of  the  Roman  nobility,  which  had  recovered 
influence  on  the  death  of  the  German  Emperor. 
Hildebrand  was  not  the  man  to  acquiesce  in  this 
state  of  things.     He    procured    the    election    of    an 


THE    COUXCII.    OF    IO59  5 

opposition  Pope  at  a  synod,  held  at  Siena,  and  did 
all  he  could  to  facilitate  the  entry  of  his  candidate 
into  Rome.  Supported  by  the  Margrave  of  Tuscany 
this  anti-Pope  was  installed  in  the  Lateran  as 
Nicholas  II.,  and  Hildebrand  hastened  to  Campania 
to  obtain  the  assistance  of  the  Normans  of  the  South 
for  the  prosecution  of  his  plans.  Nicholas,  at  his 
suggestion,  summoned  a  council,  which  condemned 
his  rival,  Benedict,  and  strongly  forbade  the  crime  of 
simony  and  the  marriage  of  priests.  A  still  more 
famous  decree  emanated  from  this  same  council,  and 
was  the  work  of  Hildebrand.  At  one  time  he  had 
looked  to  Germany  to  take  the  lead  in  the  reform  of 
the  Church  ;  but  he  had  seen  that  Teutonic  popes 
were  too  German  for  the  Italians,  and  too  Italian  for 
the  Germans.  It  was  therefore,  now,  his  policy  to 
render  the  election  of  the  Pope  independent  of  the 
German  Court  and  the  Roman  nobility  ;  to  restore 
Rome,  as  the  seat  of  God's  Vicegerent,  to  its  historic 
position  as  the  centre  of  the  world.  He  accordingl)- 
persuaded  the  Council  to  raise  the  College  of 
Cardinals  to  the  dignity  of  an  ecclesiastical  senate, 
from  which  the  Vicar  of  Christ  should  be  elected, 
while  the  clergy  and  people  of  Rome  were  only  to 
retain  the  shadowy  right  of  confirming  the  election. 
A  saving  clause  was  inserted  with  the  object  of  not 
offending  the  rights  of  the  German  sovereign,  but  a 
great  step  had  been  taken  towards  the  complete 
liberty  of  the  Papacy. 

The  Council  of  1059  marks  a  great  change  in  the 
history  of  that  unique  institution.  It  was  then  that 
it  received  the   form,    which  it  has  retained  down  to 


O  HILDEBRAND   A.\D    H/S    TIMES 

our  own  days.  It  was  then  that  the  new  constitution 
of  the  Papal  Office  was  formall}'  and  finally  estab- 
lished. But  Hildebrand  was  sufficiently  man  of  the 
world  to  know  that  decrees  are  of  little  use,  unless 
there  is  force  behind  them.  He  accordingly  resolved 
to  make  the  Normans,  who  in  the  same  century  in 
which  they  conquered  England,  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  Southern  Italy,  the  special  defenders  of 
the  Papacy  against  the  City  of  Rome  and  the  German 
P^mpire.i  Robert  Guiscard  and  Richard  of  Aversa 
the  Norman  robber-chiefs,  who  had  won  one 
Southern  Italian  town  after  another  in  the  general 
confusion  of  that  period,  were  induced  by  diplomatic 
handling,  to  regard  their  conquests  as  fiefs  of  the 
Holy  See,  which  thus  generously  bestowed  upon 
them  piincipalities  and  duchies,  without  the  least 
regard  to  the  rights  of  the  legitimate  owners.  But  a 
great  political  point  had  been  gained,  if  at  the  expense 
of  ordinar}'  moralit}'.  The  Normans  swore  to  main- 
tain the  Church  in  its  possessions,  and  to  help  the 
Pope  against  his  enemies,  and  they  were  easily  the 
first  soldiers  of  the  age.  No  time  was  lost  in  carr}'ing 
out  this  part  of  the  bond.  Nicholas  and  Hildebrand 
led  a  Norman  army  to  Rome,  forced  the  castle  in 
which  Benedict  had  sought  refuge  to  surrender,  and 
drove  that  Pope,  robbed  of  all  his  dignities,  into  the 
Convent  of  Sta.  Agnese.  Hildebrand,  now  an  Arch- 
deacon, was  the  real  ruler  of  the  Church  ;  and  the 
papal  schism  was  at  an  end  ;  the  Roman  nobilit}' 
was,  for  the  moment,  crushed.     But  the  latter  made 

'  Besides  Gibbon's  picturesque  account  of  their  arrival  in  Italy,  the 
reader  may  be  referred  to  Mr.  Marion  Crawford's  "  Rulers  of  the  South." 


Sr///S.^/   /.\-    THE    CHURCH  J 

common  cause  with  the  German  Court  against  this 
new  system  of  papal  election,  which  threatened  them 
both,  and  the  City  was  henceforth  divided  for  centuries 
into  an  Imperial  and  a  papal  party. 

The  death  of  Nicholas  II.,  in  1061,  brought  the 
rival  factions  into  speedy  conflict.  The  German 
party  in  Rome  begged  the  young  king,  Henry  IV., 
to  appoint  a  new  head  of  the  Church  ;  Hildebrand 
boldl)'  took  up  their  challenge,  and  in  conformity  with 
the  recent  decree,  assembled  the  Cardinals  and 
obtained  the  election  of  a  reforming  bishop  as  Pope, 
under  the  title  of  Alexander  II.  The  violence  of  the 
Normans  procured  the  installation  of  Hildebrand's 
candidate;  but  a  new  schism  had  begun,  for  the 
German  part}-  elected  Honorius  II.  in  Bale,  and  thus 
the  German  Empire  and  the  Roman  Church,  stood 
forth  as  combatants. 

The  combat  was  preceded  by  a  pompous  palaver 
in  the  ancient  Circus  Maximus,  between  the  envoy 
of  Honorius  and  the  Roman  nobles.  The  anti-Pope 
soon  followed  at  the  head  of  an  army,  and  once  more 
Rome  witnessed  a  sanguinary  conflict  outside  its 
gates.  The  literary  men  of  the  time  compared  the 
carnage  to  that  in  the  civil  war  between  Caisar  and 
Pompey ;  but  even  the  horrors  of  that  fratricidal 
struggle  were  surpassed,  inasmuch  as  the  rival  leaders 
of  the  new  conflict  were  not  ambitious  soldiers, 
but  the  high-priests  of  Christianit}-,  who  had  grasped 
the  sword  in  order  to  maintain  their  claims  to 
be  the  representative  of  Him  who  preached  the 
religion  of  peace.  For  the  moment  the  rivals  were 
induced  to  accept  the  intervention  of  the   Margrave 


8  HILDEDRAND   AND    HIS    TIMER 

of  Tuscany.  Hildebrand  gained  a  diplomatic  victory 
in  Germany,  and  his  nominee,  Alexander  II.,  was 
acknowledged  to  be  the  only  legitimate  Pope.  But 
the  Roman  nobles  were  not  so  easily  disconcerted. 
They  induced  the  deposed  Honorius  to  re-appear 
before  Rome,  and  installed  him  in  the  Castle  of 
Sant'  Angelo.  The  civil  war  was  renewed,  and  the 
monuments  of  the  City  were  turned  into  so  many 
coigns  of  vantage,  from  which  the  adherents  of  the  one 
Pope  hurled  taunts  and  weapons  on  those  of  the  other. 
Just  as  now,  the  Vatican  and  the  Ouirinal  represent 
opposing  parties,  so  then  St.  Peter's  and  the  Lateran 
were  the  headquarters  of  contending  factions,  where 
for  a  year  hostile  Popes  cursed  one  another,  and 
blessed  their  respective  adherents.  The  language, 
with  which  the  rivals  besmirched  one  another's 
character,  cannot  be  reproduced  without  offending 
decency,  but  finally  the  curses  of  Honorius  proved 
ineffectual.  The  Normans  came  to  his  opponent's 
aid  in  Rome  ;  Hildebrand  again  scored  a  diplomatic 
triumph  in  Germany,  and  at  last,  in  1064,  Alexander 
II.  became  sole  Pope  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name. 
Hildebrand  had  managed  to  surmount  all  obstacles, 
and  Romans  and  Germans  had  alike  bent  before  his 
will.  The  Church  hung  on  his  lips,  and  a  monkish 
admirer  hailed  him,  in  indifferent  verses,  as  more 
than  a  Pope.  Thanks  to  his  energy  and  masterful 
character,  Rome  had  once  more  become  the  ceiitre 
of  the  religious  world,  whither  bishops  came  to  attend 
councils,  and  princes  came  to  seek  pardon  for  their 
sins.  Just  as  in  former  days,  Cnut,  King  of  England, 
and  Macbeth,  King  of  Scotland,  had  made  pilgrim- 


ELECTION    or   GREGOKV    I'll.  9 

ages  to  the  Eternal  City,  so  now  the  German 
Empress  Agnes,  mother  of  Henry  IV.,  approached 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  in  the  garb  of  a  penitent,  with 
a  prayer-book  in  her  hand,  to  beg  for  mercy  and 
forgiveness. 

Alexander  II.,  died  in  1073,  '^'^'^  ^^  last,  Hilde- 
brand,  who  had  so  long  been  the  most  powerful 
figure  of  the  Church,  became  Pope  under  the  name 
of  Gregory  VII.  P^ew  men  have  ever  entered  upon 
that  office  with  greater  ideas ;  fewer  still  have 
possessed  greater  practical  ability  for  their  realisation. 
Yet,  when  the  crucial  moment  had  come,  and 
enthusiastic  voices  demanded  his  instant  election, 
he  is  said  to  have  had  misgivings  as  to  his  capacity 
for  the  post  which  was  now  his.  No  one  knew 
better  than  he  the  difficulties  of  the  reformer,  for 
he  had  been  grappling  with  them  for  }'ears.  But, 
once  elected  Pope,  he  cast  his  misgivings  behind 
him,  and  began  to  work  out  his  ambitious  programme 
of  making  the  Papacy  the  head  of  a  second  Roman 
Empire.  The  Great  Powers,  as  we  should  say  in  the 
political  language  of  our  own  day,  should,  according 
to  him,  become  the  vassals  of  the  Pope,  who,  as  God's 
Vicegerent,  should  be  the  highest  authority  on  earth. 
Nor  was  Gregory  VII.  content  with  mere  vague 
generalities.  He  claimed  overlordship  over  Bohemia, 
Russia,  and  Hungary.  He  informed  the  Spaniards, 
that  their  country  had  ever  been  a  fief  of  the  Hoi}- 
See,  and  he  asserted  rights  over  England,  which 
William  the  Conqueror,  in  1076,  firml)'  refused  to 
recognise.  As  self-constituted  head  of  Europe,  he 
conceived  the  audacious  plan  of  first  driving  his  old 


lO  HILDRBRAND   AND   H/S    Tri/ES 

friends  the  Normans,  as  well  as  the  Greeks  and 
Saracens,  out  of  Italy,  and  then  subjecting  Con- 
stantinople to  the  Roman  Church,  and  planting  the 
Cross  in  Jerusalem.  But  his  attempt  to  head  a 
crusade  was  a  failure,  and  even  the  smaller  pro- 
gramme of  reducing  Southern  Italy  to  a  fief  of  the 
Church,  met  with  the  obstinate  resistance  of  Robert 
Guiscard,  though  the  rulers  of  Capua  and  Benevento 
were  willing  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  him. 

A  more  serviceable  ally  was  the  Countess  Matilda 
of  Tuscany,  a  woman  of  the  same  Lombard  stock 
as  the  Pope,  and  of  scarcely  inferior  ability.  Her 
adhesion  was  all  the  more  valuable,  because  the 
geographical  position  of  Tuscany  made  it  a  strong 
barrier  against  German  intervention  from  the  north. 
Enemies  and  cynics  have  endeavoured  to  attribute 
the  political  alliance  of  Hildebrand  and  this  active 
woman  of  twent)'-eight  to  other  than  political  reasons. 
But  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the 
tie  which  united  them  was  less  than  platonic.  Like 
most  great  men,  Gregory  VII.  doubtless  had  his 
weaknesses  ;  but  it  is  more  charitable  and  also  more 
probable  to  assume  that  he  recognised  in  the  Tuscan 
Countess  a  kindred  spirit,  who  could,  and  would, 
assist  him  in  his  political  schemes.  At  any  rate,  she 
was  present  at  his  first  Council,  where  he  renewed  the 
reforming  decrees  of  his  predecessors,  and  ordered  the 
deposition  of  all  married  and  simoniacal  priests.  He 
could  have  no  C(jmpromise  with  either  of  these  twin 
evils,  as  heregarded  them, and  the  natural  result  of  these 
drastic  reforms  was  to  raise  against  him  most  violent 
opposition  from  all  the  interested  parties.     In  Rome 


OPPOSITION    TO    THE    POPE  I  I 

itself,  hundreds  of  priests  were  living  in  a  more  or 
less  married  state,  in  open  defiance  of  the  decisions 
of  synods,  and  their  children  "occupied  some,  of  the 
most  lucrative  places  at  the  disposition  of  the  Church. 
Even  in  our  own  day  similar  conditions  are  not 
unknown  within  sight  of  the  Vatican,  while  their 
existence  in  the  Roman  Catholic  States  of  South 
America  has  lately  been  brought  before  the  notice  of 
Leo  XIII.  Still,  though  abuses  of  this  kind  still 
occupy  the  attention  of  the  head  of  the  Roman 
Church,  there  has  been  a  marked  improvement  since 
the  period  of  which  we  are  writing.  For  in  the  time 
of  Hildebrand  even  St.  Peter's  itself,  the  Holy  of 
Holies  of  the  ecclesiastical  world,  was  not  safe  from 
the  orgies  of  men  who  masqueraded  as  Cardinals,  and, 
in  point  of  rapacity,  were  indeed  excellent  imitations 
of  the  genuine  wearers  of  the  purple.  Like  every 
reformer,  Gregory  VII.  made  swarms  of  enemies. 
Naturally,  every  deposed  priest  became  a  sworn  foe 
of  the  new  Pope,  and  found  no  difficulty  in  persuading 
his  boon-companions  that  Hildebrand  was  worse  than 
an  atheist — a  conscientious  follower  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment doctrine  in  the  every-day  business  of  life.  The 
Roman  nobles  had,  as  we  have  seen,  reasons  of  their 
own  for  disliking  the  man,  who  had  made  the  Papacy 
independent  of  them,  and  the  Triple  Alliance  against 
him  was  completed  by  the  adhesion  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Ravenna,  who  had  long  been  Hildebrand's  bitterest 
enemy. 

But,  great  as  was  the  storm  aroused  in  Ital}'  against 
the  new  policy,  it  was  less  serious  than  that  excited  in 
Germany.       Henry    IV.    had,    indeed,   accepted    the 


12  lIir.DRBRAND   AND    HIS    TIMI-S 

Pope's  behests  for  the  moment  ;  but  his  practice  con- 
tinued to  be  the  same  as  before.  He  sold  ecclesiastical 
benefices  in  the  good  old  style,  and  the  majority  of 
German  priests  continued  to  be  married.  A  second 
decree  of  the  Pope,  which  forbade  the  investiture  of 
priests  by  laymen,  was  a  still  more  direct  blow  at 
Henry's  influence,  and  at  that  of  all  temporal 
magnates.  This  attempt  to  separate  the  Church  from 
all  State  control  was  a  bold  stroke  of  policy,  but  it 
united  a  whole  host  of  powerful  foes  against  the 
Papacy,  and  lighted  a  fire,  which  blazed  for  the  next 
half  century  almost  without  intermission. 

The  first  act  of  violent  opposition  to  the  papal 
ordinances  was  the  conspiracy  of  Cencius,  a  dis- 
appointed place-hunter,  who  made  himself  the  leader 
of  all  the  discontented  at  Rome,  and  was  so  much 
feared  by  the  papal  party,  that  they  dared  not 
execute  a  sentence  of  death,  which  had  been  passed 
upon  him.  Cencius  wrote  to  Henry  IV.,  promising  to 
deliver  the  Pope  into  his  hands  ;  and^  though  it  is 
not  clear  that  he  obtained  any  response,  he  at  once 
set  about  to  redeem  his  promise.  He  selected  the 
Christmas  Eve  of  1075  for  the  date  of  his  attempt ; 
and,  at  the  moment  when  the  Pope  was  reading  mass 
in  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  rushed  up  to  the 
altar  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  followed  by  a  band 
of  fellow-conspirators.  Neither  respect  for  the  sacred 
building  nor  regard  for  the  person  of  tlie  Pope  had 
the  least  weight  with  the  savage  leader  of  the  revo- 
lution. Seizing  Gregory  by  the  hair,  he  dragged  him 
out  of  the  church,  threw  him  across  his  horse  and 
galloped  off  with  his  burden  to  his  tower  of  safety. 


GREGORY   A    PRISONER  1 3 

Yet,  even  in  this  extremity,  Gregory  was  not 
wholly  abandoned.  A  noble  lady  and  a  man  of 
lowly  birth,  typical  of  the  influence  which  he 
exercised  over  all  classes,  followed  him  and  ministered 
to  his  wants.  The  news  of  his  abduction  soon  spread 
through  the  city,  for,  accustomed  as  Rome  was  to 
acts  of  violence,  the  kidnapping  of  a  Pope  was  not  an 
every-day  occurrence.  The  alarm  bells  summoned 
the  people  to  arms  ;  the  priests  veiled  the  desecrated 
altars  ;  the  guards  barred  the  gates  ;  torchlight 
processions  traversed  the  streets  in  quest  of  the  lost 
Pontiff,  for  it  was  not  yet  known  where  he  was,  nor 
even  if  he  was  still  alive.  All  was  uncertainty  and 
confusion.  The  days  of  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline 
seemed  to  have  returned,  and  in  the  morning  the 
people  thronged  the  Capitol  to  deliberate  on  what 
should  be  done.  At  last  the  news  came,  that  Gregory 
was  a  prisoner  in  Cencius'  tower,  that  he  was  wounded 
and  alone.  In  a  moment  the  mob  rushed  to  the 
prison  of  the  Pope,  and  his  gaoler,  finding  resistance 
useless,  obtained  pardon  by  entreaties  or  threats  from 
his  prisoner.  The  Pope  kept  his  word,  and  saved 
Cencius  from  the  hands  of  the  infuriated  people. 
Returning  to  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  he  completed  the 
interrupted  mass,  M'hile  his  captor,  who  had  pledged 
himself  to  go  as  a  pilgrim  to  Jerusalem,  took  to 
the  more  congenial  occupation  of  ravaging  the 
ecclesiastical  domains  in  the  Roman  Campagna. 
Gregory  came  out  of  this  fier\-  ordeal  with  heightened 
prestige,  and  the  people  recognised  that  the  Pope  was 
not  only  morally  courageous,  but  physically  brave. 
A  greater  enemy  than  Cencius  now  stepped  into 


14  HII.DEBRAND   AND    HIS    TIAfES 

the  arena,  to  try  conclusions  with  the  Pope.  The 
latter  had  reminded  the  youthful  Henry  IV.  of  the 
end  of  Saul,  and  threatened  him  with  the  curse  of  the 
Church,  unless  he  repented  of  his  sins  in  sackcloth  and 
ashes.  The  King  retaliated  by  summoning  a  Council 
at  Worms,  where  his  obedient  German  bishopsdeclared 
the  Pope  to  be  deposed.  The  conflict  between  Church 
and  State,  Rome  and  Germany,  had  begun,  and  the 
letter,  which  Henry,  "  King,  not  by  usurpation  but  by 
the  holy  will  of  God,"  wrote  to  "  Hildebrand,  not 
Pope,  but  false  monk,"  left  no  loophole  for  a  com- 
promise. The  writer  accused  his  enemy  of  having 
"  trodden  underfoot  archbishops,  bishops,  and  priests, 
like  slaves  "  ;  of  having  "  rebelled  against  the  Royal 
power  itself  "  ;  of  having  *'  gained  the  Papacy  by 
cunning  and  treachery "  ;  and  of  "  arming  subjects 
against  their  lords."  Possibly  Henry  sought  to  veil 
the  illegality  of  his  action  by  the  violence  of  his 
language,  while  he  cloaked  his  aggression  in  biblical 
quotations,  after  the  manner  of  South  ^African 
diplomacy.  But  Gregory  was  not  the  man  to  quail 
before  strong  words,  even  in  the  mouth  of  a  king  ; 
and,  when  the  Royal  emissary  stepped  forth  at  the 
opening  of  a  Lateran  Council,  and  bade  the  Pope 
come  down  at  once  from  his  seat,  he  saved  the  rash 
envoy  from  the  consequences  of  his  act  and  at 
once  replied  by  placing  Henry  beneath  the  ban  of 
the  Church.  He  deposed  that  monarch  from  his 
throne,  released  Henry's  subjects  from  their  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  justified  rebellion  against  a  sovereign, 
who  had  dared  to  raise  his  hand  against  the  Vicar  of 
Christ.     Powerful   as    Henry  had  believed  himself  to 


HEN  NY   IV.    AT   CANOSSA  I  5 

be,  he  found  that  he  was  no  match,  in  that  superstitious 
age,  for  a  monk,  weak  in  physical  force  but  strong  in 
the  might  of  his  supernatural  attributes.  Princes, 
bishops,  and  people  deserted  the  cause  of  their  king  at 
the  bidding  of  the  Pope  ;  party  spirit,  always  the  curse 
of  mediaeval  Germany,  seized  the  opportunity  to 
identify  itself  with  religious  duty  ;  and  Henry,  alone 
and  abandoned,  bowed  before  the  storm. 

No  monarch  has  ever  undergone  a  more  humiliating 
penance.  Crossing  the  snows  of  Mont  Cenis  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  he  entered  Italy  in  the  garb  of  a 
penitent,  where  his  father  had  trodden  at  the  head  of 
an  army.  Rejecting  the  counsel  of  the  North  Italians, 
who  urged  him  to  lead  them  to  Rome,  he  wended  his 
way  past  Reggio  dell' Emilia  to  the  Castle  ofCanossa, 
behind  the  walls  of  which  the  Pope  and  the  Countess 
Matilda  were  entrenched.  At  that  spot  the  Papacy 
obtained  the  greatest  of  its  triumphs  over  the  power 
of  sovereigns.  For  three  weary  days  the  stern  Gregory 
kept  his  humbled  rival  waiting  before  the  castle-gate 
in  the  shirt  of  a  suppliant.  At  last  Matilda  interceded 
on  his  behalf;  and  the  Pope  released  the  kneeling 
and  weeping  king  from  the  ban  of  the  Church,  but 
only  on  condition  that  he  should  relinquish  his  crown 
until  such  time  as  a  Church  Council  had  decided  his 
fate,  and  that,  in  the  event  of  his  reinstatement,  he 
would  swear  ever  to  obey  the  will  of  the  Pope.  The 
scene  at  Canossa  in  1077  has,  in  our  own  time,  been 
made  the  subject  of  the  greatest  modern  statesman's 
comment.  Eight  centuries  after  a  German  king  had 
knelt  humbly  at  the  feet  of  a  Pope,  Prince  Bismarck, 
in    all   the   heat    of   the    Kulliirkainpf,   declared   that 


1 6  HILDEBRAND   AND   HIS    TIMES 

never  again  would  a  German  sovereign  "  go  to 
Canossa,"  with  what  results  the  sequel  showed.  But 
the  apposite  nature  of  the  allusion  showed  that  in 
800  years  Church  and  State  were  still  foes,  and  the 
subsequent  surrender  of  a  statesman  far  stronger  than 
Henry,  to  a  Pope  far  weaker  than  Gregory,  proved 
that  the  passing  of  centuries  had  not  much  diminished 
the  power  of  the  Roman  Church  over  the  minds  of 
men. 

Gregory  and  the  Papacy  had  triumphed  ;  but  their 
triumph  was  not  long  unquestioned.  The  candidature 
of  Rudolph  of  Swabia,  as  a  rival  for  the  German 
crown,  placed  the  Pope  in  a  difficulty  ;  for  a  large 
party  in  Germany  clamoured  for  his  recognition  of 
that  prince,  and  the  Pope  at  last  yielded,  and  once 
more  placed  Henry  under  the  ban.  But  this  second 
thunderbolt  failed  in  its  effect.  Henry  retorted  by 
ordering  the  election  of  the  Archbishop  of  Ravenna 
as  Pope,  and  thus  met  Gregory  with  his  own  weapons. 
Rudolph's  death  left  the  field  open  in  Germany,  and 
four  years  after  his  penance  at  Canossa,  Henry 
marched  at  tlie  head  of  an  arm}'  upon  Rome.  His 
first  and  second  attempts  to  capture  the  city  failed, 
although  he  tried  those  golden  arguments  which 
Philip  of  Macedon  had  declared  to  be  an  unfailing 
means  of  success.  A  third  attack  at  the  end  of  the 
following  year  was  a  more  serious  affair.  He  occupied 
the  Leonine  city,  and  a  tradition  has  preserved  the 
name  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  as  the  first  man  who  set 
foot  within  it.  St.  Peter's  was  the  scene  of  a  violent 
conflict  between  the  opposing  forces,  and  Henry, 
accompanied  b}' his   Pope,  now   styled   Clement   HI., 


1 8  Hn.DRBRAND   AND    HIS    TIMES 

entered  the  f^reat  church  in  triumph,  while  Gregory 
fled  to  the  adjoining  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo.  The 
latter's  position  seemed,  indeed,  hopeless.  The  three 
sieges  had  exhausted  the  resources  of  the  city  and  the 
patience  of  its  inhabitants.  Even  among  his  own 
adherents  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  urged 
Gregory  to  make  terms  with  the  king,  and  save  what 
remained  of  Rome  from  utter  destruction.  Henry 
professed  himself  willing  to  receive  the  Imperial 
diadem  from  his  hands,  if  he  would  consent  to  peace. 
But  Gregory  would  have  no  compromises.  He  vowed 
that  he  would  recognise  Henry  as  neither  king  nor 
Kaiser,  and  insisted  that  the  terms  accepted  by  the 
king  when  he  was  a  penitent  at  Canossa  must  be 
observed  when  he  was  a  conqueror  at  Rome.  He  was 
willing  to  call  a  council  to  decide  the  question,  and 
this  arrangement  Henr)'  accepted  for  the  moment, 
but  he  speedily  broke  his  word.  Utterly  weary  of 
the  struggle,  the  people  now  abandoned  the  cause  of 
Gregory,  and  betrayed  the  city  to  his  enemies.  An 
assembly  of  Roman  notables  proclaimed  his  deposition 
from  the  Papacy,  and  recognised  Clement  HI.  as  the 
lawful  Vicar  of  Christ.  Clement  owed  his  dignity  to 
Henry,  and  he  repaid  his  benefactor  by  crowning 
him  Emperor,  in  St.  Peter's,  on  Easter  Sunday,  1084. 
Still  Gregory  held  out  in  the  Castle  of  Sant' 
Angelo,  that  memorable  fortress,  which  down  to  1870 
played  such  a  great  part  in  the  histor)'  of  the  Popes. 
He  could  see  from  the  battlements  the  ruins  of  the 
Leonine  Cit}-,  the  army  of  his  enemies,  the  treachery 
of  his  former  friends.  One  day  he  saw  another  and 
a  more  cheerful  sight^the  bands  of  Robert  Guiscard 


THE   NORMANS    TAKE    ROME  I9 

marching-  across  the  Campagna  to  set  liim  free.  The 
Norman  chief  had  made  his  peace  with  Gregory 
before  the  war  began  ;  but,  at  the  moment  when 
hostihties  broke  out,  he  was  at  Durazzo,  on  the 
Albanian  coast,  and  it  was  only  now,  at  the  eleventh 
hour,  that  he  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  beleaguered 
Pope,  in  order  to  save  himself,  for  he  surmised  that 
his  turn  would  come  next.  Henry  knew  that  his 
forces  would  be  no  match  for  the  Norman  warriors  ; 
he  a.ssembled  the  Romans,  told  them  that  pressing 
business  called  him  northward,  and,  after  destroying 
the  towers  of  the  Capitol  and  the  walls  of  the  Leonine 
City,  he  retired,  leaving  the  great  object  of  his  efforts 
unattained. 

Three  days  later,  Robert  Guiscard  arrived  before 
the  gates,  which  were  shut  in  his  face  by  the  Romans, 
whom  Henry  had  abandoned.  The  Normans  climbed 
the  gate  of  San  Lorenzo,  and  soon  the  prisoner  of  the 
Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo  was  at  liberty.  Robert  Guiscard 
could  boast  that  he  was  one  of  the  commanders  who 
had  taken  the  Eternal  City;  but  he  had  no  mercy 
for  the  treasures  which  it  contained.  The  Romans 
rose  against  their  conqueror,  and  he  secured  himself 
by  setting  fire  to  a  part  of  their  great  inheritance. 
Churches  were  reduced  to  ashes,  streets  lay  in  ruin, 
corpses  cumbered  the  ground  ;  noble  Romans  were 
sold  into  slaver)%  or  sent  off  as  convicts  to  the 
mountains  of  Calabria.  An  ecclesiastical  poet,  who 
visited  the  cit}^  twent)--two  years  later,  mourned  over 
the  destruction  which  the  hordes  of  Guiscard  had 
wrought, yet  declared  that,  even  in  her  ruin,  there  was 
"  nothing    like   Rome."      It  was,   indeed,  the  severest 


20  HILDEBRAND   AND    HIS    TIMES 

trial  that  the  Romans  had  undergone  for  centuries, 
and  a  long  list  of  monuments  can  be  drawn  up,  which 
perished  in  those  terrible  days.  The  Lateran  Gate 
was  henceforth  known  as  "  the  burnt  portal  "  ;  the 
Colosseum  itself  only  just  escaped.  The  Ctilian  and 
the  Aventine  then,  for  the  first  time,  became  desolate, 
and  a  somewhat  later  writer  actually  states  that 
Guiscard  wanted  to  destroy  the  whole  cit}'.  Other 
towns  adorned  themselves  with  the  spoils  of  Rome. 
The  cathedrals  of  Pisa  and  Lucca  were  both  decked 
with  columns  that  had  once  stood  in  the  Imperial 
capital  ;  and  thus,  as  usual,  "the  monks  ended  what 
the  Goths  began."  Gregory  himself  was  shocked  at 
the  state  in  which  the  city  was  restored  to  him.  He 
saw  that  he  could  no  longer  live  there  amid  the  ruins 
which  his  ambition  had  caused,  and  withdrew  for  ever 
from  the  scene  of  his  conflicts  and  his  triumphs.  He 
knew  that  his  life  would  not  be  safe  for  a  moment 
after  the  retirement  of  his  Norman  allies,  so  he,  too, 
retired  to  Salerno  to  foster  plans  of  a  complete  restora- 
tion of  his  former  power.  But  death  cut  short  all  his 
further  schemes,  and  he  died  in  exile  in  1085.  He 
was  buried  in  Robert  Guiscard's  new  cathedral  at 
Salerno,  where  his  ashes  still  lie.  "  I  have  loved 
justice  and  hated  iniquity,"  he  exclaimed  with  his 
dying  breath  ;  and,  if  ambition  rather  than  a  love  of 
abstract  justice  had  been  his  guiding  motive,  he  was 
at  least  a  great  Pope  and  a  great  man.  In  the 
mediaeval  history  of  Rome  he  cannot  fail  to  be  one  of 
the  mightiest  figures,  and  in  that  of  the  Papacy  he 
is  remembered  as  one  of  that  small  band  of  Popes 
who  attained  to  genius.      In  the  phrase  of  Gibbon  he 


GREGORY    VII. 

(From  flic  Staiirc  oj  RtipJiacl. 


22  niLDRBKAND   AND   HIS    TIMES 

"may  be  adored,  or  detested,  as  the  founder  (jf  the 
papal  monarchy,"  according  to  the  opinions  of  his 
critics.  He  aimed  at  making  Rome  the  capital  of  the 
world  once  more,  at  raising  his  own  office  to  the 
dominion  over  all  earthly  principalities  and  powers. 
He  left  the  Eternal  City  in  ashes,  and  his  successors 
have  lost  all  tem[)oral  authority,  and  have  had  to 
concede  much  that  he  considered  as  essential.  But 
he  made  a  mark,  not  only  on  his  own  time,  but  on 
more  than  one  future  era,  and  his  influence  and 
example  may  be  traced  in  subsequent  conflicts  between 
Church  and  State. 


II 


ARNOLD   OF    BRESCIA 


The  death  of  Hildebrand,  followed  as  it  was  by 
that  of  Robert  Guiscard,  weakened  the  influence  of 
the  Papacy,  and  the  condition  of  the  Roman  Church 
was  not  such  as  to  attract  candidates  for  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter.  Desiderius,  Abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  the 
magnificent  monastery  between  Rome  and  Naples, 
which  still  bears  the  marks  of  his  influence,  was 
elected  Pope,  against  his  will,  under  the  title  of 
Victor  III.,  and  the  next  two  years  witnessed  the 
deplorable  spectacle  of  a  struggle  for  the  possession 
of  the  Papal  chair,  between  the  adherents  of  this 
reluctant  Pontiff  and  the  opposition-Pope,  Clement 
III.,  who  was  still  supported  by  German  influence. 
St.  Peter's  was  besieged  by  the  Norman  allies  of 
Victor's  party,  and  their  nominee  installed  there. 
But  death  removed  the  Pope  from  a  position  for 
which  he  was  utterly  unsuited,  and,  leaving  the 
Eternal  City  once  more  in  the  hands  of  his  rival, 
he  expired  at  his  beloved  Monte  Cassino,  which  he 
should  never  have  left.  In  1088,  Otto,  Bishop  of 
Ostia,  was  chosen  as  his  successor,  with  the  name  of 

23 


24  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

Urban  II.  Urban  was  the  first  Frenchman  ever 
made  Pope,  and  is  famous  in  European  history  as 
one  of  the  chief  instit^ators  of  the  first  Crusade.  But 
his  memorable  speech  at  Clermont,  which  kindled 
such  enthusiasm  for  that  cause,  and  the  deeds  of  the 
Crusaders,  had  merely  an  indirect  influence  on  the 
fate  of  Rome.  One  of  the  incidental  results  of  the 
first  Crusade  was  to  restore  Rome  to  the  control  of 
the  lawful  Pope.  The  effects  of  that  great  movement 
upon  the  seat  of  the  Papacy  were  only  secondary. 
Though  the  Popes  found  a  new  source  of  income 
in  the  Crusading  movement,  and  were  able  to 
consolidate  their  power,  while  other  sovereigns  be- 
came exhausted,  the  Romans,  themselves,  showed 
no  enthusiasm  for  the  liberation  of  Jerusalem,  and 
their  trade  was  injured  by  the  diversion  of  interest 
to  the  East.  But  the  Crusaders,  on  their  way  to 
Bari,  found  time  to  clear  out  of  the  Roman  basilicas 
the  barbarous  bands  of  Christians  who  supported  the 
anti-Pope.  An  eye-witness,  who  had  taken  the  Cross 
to  fight  against  the  Paynim,  has  left  on  record  his 
amazement  at  discovering  the  most  famous  Church  of 
Christendom  in  the  possession  of  armed  miscreants, 
who  stole  the  offerings  of  the  pious  from  the  altars, 
pelted  the  worshippers  with  stones  from  the  beams  of 
the  roof,  and  threatened  to  murder  every  one  who  was 
a  follower  of  Urban.  It  may  have  occurred  to  some 
of  the  Crusaders,  that  Rome  was  even  more  in  need 
of  reform  than  Jerusalem,  and  students  of  Eiastern 
politics  are  reminded  that  even  in  the  nineteenth 
century  a  Turkish  guard  was  required  to  prevent 
hostile  sects  of  Christians  from  tearing  one  another 


OR /GIN   OF   THE    COLON  N  A    FAMILY  25 

in  pieces  at  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The  warriors  of  the 
Cross,  we  are  told,  were  horrified  at  what  they  saw  in 
the  capital  of  Christianity,  and  some  called  down  the 
vengeance  of  God  upon  the  wicked  city.  But  the 
Pope  had  gained  his  point.  Clement  retired  to 
Ravenna,  and  Urban  entered  the  Castle  of  Sant' 
Angelo,  only  to  enjoy  for  one  brief  year  the  undivided 
possession  of  Rome. 

But  the  nineteen  years'  pontificate  of  Paschalis  II., 
who  succeeded  him,  was  a  period  of  misery  for  the 
city.  The  Papal  schism,  supported  by  the  German 
party,  still  continued,  even  after  the  death  of 
Clement,  and  the  rebellious  nobles  of  Rome  gave 
the  Pope  almost  constant  trouble.  Now,  for  the 
first  time,  we  hear  of  the  famous  house  of  Colonna, 
whose  origin,  according  to  the  courtly  Petrarch,  was 
to  be  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  whose 
name  and  arms  have  been  connected  with  almost 
every  celebrated  column  from  that  of  Trajan  to 
those  of  Hercules.  At  the  same  moment,  another 
noble  family,  that  of  the  Corsi,  dislodged  from  their 
fastness,  amid  the  ruins  of  the  Capitol,  established 
themselves  outside  the  gates,  and  thence  plundered 
the  houses  within.  During  the  absence  of  the  Pope 
in  France  and  Southern  Italy,  these  ambitious 
adventurers  raised  a  rebellion  of  the  Sabine  and 
Latin  towns,  and  the  head  of  the  Church  had  to 
subdue  the  rising  by  force  of  arms.  Such  was  the 
condition  of  Rome  in  the  early  years  of  the  twelfth 
century. 

Amidst  so  much  misery,  and  such  wanton  destruc- 
tion, the  historians  of  the  time  could   point  to  one 


26  ARXOI.D    OF  BRESCIA 

remarkable  ceremonial — the  journey  of  Henry  IV.'s 
successor,  Henry  V.,  from  Germany  to  Rome  in 
iiio-i,  to  be  crowned  Kmperor.  Humiliating  as  it 
was  for  Italy  and  the  Papacy,  the  pompous  pageantry, 
which  the  German  sovereign  displayed,  yet  lights  up 
the  dreary  annals  of  the  age.  Three  thousand  knights 
were  in  his  train  ;  vassals  of  many  languages,  led  by 
princes  or  bishops,  followed  their  liege  lord  ;  scribes 
attended  to  report  his  doings  for  the  benefit  of  those 
whom  he  had  left  at  home,  just  as  in  our  own  day 
a  Kaiser's  pilgrimage  to  Palestine  is  not  complete 
without  a  "  special  correspondent."  A  pact  was  made 
between  the  King  and  the  Pope,  which  was  to  have 
established  the  peace  between  Church  and  State  by 
means  of  mutual  concessions,  and  the  two  took  their 
places  side  by  side  on  the  purple  throne  at  St.  Peter's. 
Then  followed  a  scene  to  which  scarcely  a  parallel 
can  be  found  in  the  annals  of  the  world.  The  text 
of  this  new  Concordat  was  read  aloud  before  the  vast 
congregation  of  priests  and  nobles ;  the  Pope  was 
found  to  have  prohibited  the  service  of  clerics  in  the 
army,  and  to  have  ordered  the  surrender  of  all  crown 
property  that  they  held  to  the  Emperor,  who,  in 
return,  was  expected  to  relinquish  the  right  of 
investiture.  xA.t  this  point  Henry  withdrew,  under 
the  pretext  of  consulting  with  the  bishops,  who 
declared  the  pact  intolerable.  The  King  demanded 
to  be  crowned  as  Emperor ;  the  Pope  refused  to 
crown  him.  High  words  were  banded  to  and  fro, 
and  a  knight  cried  out,  "  What  need  is  there  for  long 
speeches?  My  master  insists  on  being  crowned  with- 
out more  ado,  like  Louis  and  Charles  before  him  !  " 


H/-:.\RY    V.    IN   ROME  27 

Anxious  Cardinals  suggested  that  the  coronation 
should  take  place  at  once,  and  the  negotiations 
between  Church  and  State  be  renewed  on  the 
morrow.  But  the  bishops  would  hear  no  more  about 
negotiations.  Armed  men  surrounded  the  Pope,  and 
he  had  scarcely  concluded  the  mass,  when  a  frightful 
tumult  broke  out.  Seldom  had  St.  Peter's  seen  a 
more  disgraceful  spectacle,  and  the  trembling  Pontiff 
was  thankful  to  escape  at  nightfall,  with  his  retinue, 
to  an  adjacent  house,  where  he  remained  a  prisoner, 
while  the  church  which  he  had  just  left  was  sacked 
and  outraged.  But  two  of  his  friends  had  escaped 
over  the  Tiber  in  disguise,  and  told  the  people  what 
had  occurred.  The  alarm  bells  were  rung  ;  the 
citizens  rose  as  one  man  ;  every  German,  who  was 
found  by  the  mob,  was  cut  down.  As  soon  as  it  was 
light  the  Romans  rushed  to  the  rescue  of  their  Pope, 
and  Henry,  barefooted  and  half-dressed,  leapt  on 
horseback  to  check  the  fury  of  their  attack.  Wounded, 
and  lying  on  the  ground,  he  owed  his  life  to  the 
devotion  of  one  of  his  followers,  who  himself  fell  a 
victim  to  the  disappointed  vengeance  of  the  rabble. 
It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty,  that  the  German 
troops  held  their  ground  at  last,  and  the  Vicar  of  the 
Pope  urged  on  the  people  to  attack  them  again. 
Then  Henry  marched  away,  taking  the  Pope  and 
sixteen  Cardinals  with  him  as  prisoners,  while  his 
rough  soldiers  dragged  a  band  of  priests  through  the 
mire  at  their  horses'  tails.  This  was  his  revenge  for 
Canossa  ;  thus  Paschalis  H,  suffered  for  the  triumph 
of  Hildebrand.  Not  a  single  Christian  Power  raised 
a  finp:er  on  behalf  of  the  head  of  Christendom.     P"or 


28  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

sixty-one  weary  days  did  Pope  and  Cardinals  remain 
the  German  sovereign's  prisoners,  until  at  last  the 
Pope  yielded  to  compulsion,  and  consented  to  grant 
the  privilege  of  investiture  to  his  captor,  and  crown 
him  Emperor.  The  latter  ceremony  was  hastily 
performed,  and  the  newly-crowned  Kaiser  marched 
away  from  Rome,  whither  the  Pope  returned  with  the 
halo  of  a  martyr.  The  people  received  him  with 
boundless  enthusiasm,  but  he  read  already  in  the 
faces  of  the  clergy  that  he  had  another,  and  no  less 
difficult,  contest  before  him  than  that  with  Henry. 
The  Cardinals,  who  had  not  shared  his  captivity, 
regarded  him  as  a  coward  who  had  purchased  his 
life  and  liberty  at  the  expense  of  the  Church.  They 
demanded  the  excommunication  of  the  Emperor 
and  the  withdrawal  of  the  privilege  granted  to  him, 
which  they  said  was  pravilegiuni  non  privilegiiun. 
Paschalis,  in  self-defence,  summoned  a  council  in 
the  Lateran,  which  lost  no  time  in  declaring  the 
Imperial  privilege  to  be  a  direct  violation  of  canon 
law,  and  so  great  was  the  stir  made  by  the  quarrel 
that  Alexius  Comnenus,  the  Greek  Emperor,  thought 
the  moment  favourable  to  advance  his  claims  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Western  world  as  well. 

The  last  word  had  not,  however,  been  said  in  the 
contest  between  Henry  V.  and  the  Pope.  It  chanced 
that  there  died  about  this  time  the  prefect  of  the 
city — the  chief  municipal  magistrate,  who  was 
elected  from  the  noble  Roman  families,  and  owed 
a  divided  allegiance  to  both  Pope  and  Emperor, 
though  he  more  particularly  represented  the  latter — 
and,  as  successor  to  that  important  official,  Paschalis 


GELASIUS   II.  29 

desired  to  appoint  a  son  of  Pierleone,  a  member 
of  a  Jewish  family,  whose  stronghold  was  close  to  the 
theatre  of  Marcellus.  The  Imperial  faction  in  Rome 
stormed  the  place,  and  once  more  civil  war  raged  in 
the  streets.  Scarcely  had  it  subsided,  when  Henry 
entered  the  city  in  triumph,  while  the  Pope  fled  to 
the  South.  A  year  later,  in  1 1 18,  Paschalis  died  in 
the  attempt  to  recover  possession  of  Rome,  and  found 
an  unwilling  successor  in  Gelasius  II.  The  concla\'e 
had  barely  concluded  the  formalities  of  his  election, 
when  a  mob  of  armed  Romans  burst  open  the  doors, 
the  newly-chosen  Pope  was  thrown  on  the  ground, 
trodden  underfoot,  and  dragged  in  chains  to  a 
dungeon  of  the  Frangipani  family.  Then  the  violent 
scene  from  the  life  of  Gregory  VII.,  which  was 
described  in  the  last  chapter,  was  repeated.  The 
people  rose  and  set  the  captive  Pope  at  liberty,  and 
riding  on  a  white  mule,  he  \vas  escorted  to  the 
Lateran  to  receive  the  homage  of  the  citizens.  But 
the  Frangipani  summoned  Henry  again  to  Rome,  to 
protest,  by  force,  against  the  election  of  a  Pope 
without  his  consent.  Like  Pius  IX.,  seven  centuries 
later,  Gelasius  escaped  to  Gaeta,  while  an  anti-Pope 
was  set  up  in  Rome  under  the  title  of  Gregory  VIII. 
Even  in  distant  England  Gregory  found  recognition; 
and  when,  on  Henry's  withdrawal  from  the  Eternal 
City,  the  real  Pope  ventured  to  return,  the  anti-Pope 
remained  in  possession  of  power.  Gelasius  was  able 
to  describe  his  rival  as  "the  beast  of  the  Apocalypse," 
but  force  compelled  him  to  retire  again  from  Rome. 
The  Frangipani  assaulted  the  Church  in  which  he 
was    celebrating    mass,   and    some    Roman    matrons 


30  ARXOI.D    OF  PRESCIA 

discovered  him  wandering  about  the  outskirts  of  the 
city  with  a  sohtary  follower — a  sad  spectacle  of  fallen 
greatness.  Seeing  that  all  was  lost,  he  set  out  for 
France,  and  died  at  Clun}',  in  1 1 19,  on  the  hard  floor 
of  a  convent  cell,  tlis  end  recalls  that  of  a  much 
later  Pope,  Pius  VI.,  dying  with  a  single  attendant 
at  Valence,  a  victim  of  Bonaparte's  ambitious 
policy. 

A  change,  however,  came  over  the  Church  at  this 
moment.  A  French  x'\rchbishop  was  chosen  at 
Cluny  as  Pope  under  the  name  of  Calixtus  II., 
and  his  energy  soon  proved  the  excellence  of  his 
choice.  He  set  himself  at  once  to  put  an  end  to 
the  wearisome  quarrel  over  the  right  of  investiture, 
which  had  been  the  curse  alike  of  the  Church  and  the 
city  of  Rome  for  the  last  half  century.  He  entered 
the  city  with  a  pomp,  which  was,  indeed,  a  contrast 
to  the  last  entrance  of  his  predecessor.  A  liberal  use 
of  money  won  him  man}-  supporters,  and  the  anti- 
Pope  was  soon  in  his  turn  a  fugitive  in  the  old 
Etruscan  fortress  of  Sutri.  Calixtus  pursued  him 
thither,  and  the  inhabitants  surrendered  their  trouble- 
some guest  into  his  hands.  Clad  in  a  shaggy  goat- 
skin, and  mounted  on  a  camel  with  his  face  to  the 
tail,  he  who  had  posed  as  the  head  of  the  Church 
was  dragged  into  Rome  amidst  showers  of  stones  and 
blows,  like  some  wild  beast,  and,  after  having  afforded 
to  the  populace  an  opportunity  of  sport  or  revenge 
was  sent  to  one  prison  after  another,  until  at  last  death 
released  him  from  his  miser}-.  Having  finished  with 
his  rival,  the  anti-Pope,  Calixtus  next  proceeded  to 
deal  with  his  enemy,  the  Emperor.     Henr}-  was  him- 


J  JEWISH  POPE  31 

self  weary  of  the  conflict,  and  a  fresh  Concordat  was 
signed  at  Worms  and  confirmed  at  a  Lateran  Council, 
by  which  the  question  of  investiture  was  settled  b}- 
mutual  concessions  and  peace  at  last  made  between 
the  two  greatest  dignitaries  of  the  Western  world. 

The  repose  thus  obtained  was  employed  by  Calix- 
tus  in  restoring  some  of  the  ravages  which  recent 
struggles  had  wrought  in  the  fabric  of  the  city. 
He  forbade  the  use  of  churches  as  places  of  defence, 
prohibited  the  plundering  of  altars,  and  protected 
pilgrims.  He  began  the  restoration  of  the  Lateran, 
built  there  a  new  chapel,  dedicated  to  St.  Nicholas  of 
Bari,  and  erected  a  new  audience  chamber  where 
paintings  of  himself  and  his  six  immediate  pre- 
decessors, with  their  rival  popes  depicted  as  their 
footstools,  served  as  a  memorial  of  the  great  contest, 
which  had  just  been  closed.  These  figures  have  long 
since  disappeared,  and  their  originator  did  not  live 
many  years  to  contemplate  them.  Calixtus  died  in 
1 124,  and  in  the  following  year  Henry  V.  followed 
him  to  the  tomb.  The  next  Pope,  Honorius  H.,  is 
not  remarkable  in  the  histor)-  of  Rome  ;  but  on  his 
death  in  1130  a  phenomenon  occurred,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  in  the  mediaeval  annals  of  the 
Papacy — the  selection  of  a  Jew  as  Pope. 

At  that  time  the  two  most  influential  Roman 
families  were  the  Frangipani  and  the  Pierleoni.  The 
former  derived  their  quaint  name  of  "'bread-breakers" 
from  the  legend  that  one  of  them  had  "  broken 
bread "  and  distributed  it  to  the  people  during  a 
great  famine  ;  the  latter  were  of  Jewish  origin,  and 
had  realised  a  large  fortune  by  the  customary  pro- 


32  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

fes.sion  of  their  race — that  of  lending  money  to  needy 
Christians  at  a  remunerative  rate  of  interest.  It  was 
said  that  even  Popes  had  not  hesitated  to  borrow 
from  these  Rothschilds  of  the  twelfth  century,  and 
Roman  nobles  of  the  purest  blood  did  not  disdain 
matrimonial  alliances  with  them.  One  of  the  family 
was  converted  to  Christianity,  and  Leo  IX.,  at  that 
time  Pope,  was  graciously  pleased  to  stand  godfather 
to  the  convert,  whose  descendants  ever  afterwards 
bore  his  sponsor's  name.  Their  riches  procured  them 
in  due  course  the  most  illustrious  ancestry,  and  courtly 
genealogists  three  centuries  later  invented  the  legend 
that  they  were  not  only  descendants  of  the  Anicii, 
but  ancestors  of  the  Hapsburgs  !  We  can  hardly 
wonder  under  the  circumstances  that  they  aspired  to 
the  Papacy,  and  in  Cardinal  Pierleone  a  Pope  was 
forthcoming  under  the  name  of  Anacletus  II.  But 
on  the  same  day  the  Frangipani  had  already  pro- 
cured the  election  of  another  Pontiff,  Innocent  II., 
and  thus  a  new  schism  arose  out  of  the  jealousies 
of  these  noble  families.  Pierleone  was  the  popular 
favourite,  for  he  had  wealth  on  his  side,  and  did 
not  spare  it  in  order  to  win  adherents.  Even  the 
Frangipani  could  not  resist  his  golden  arguments,  and 
his  rival  was  soon  an  exile  in  France.  As  for  his 
fellow-Jews,  their  delight  at  his  election  was  bound- 
less ;  for  they  had,  indeed,  triumphed  with  Pierleone. 
But  England,  Germany,  France,  and  the  greater  part 
of  Italy  acknowledged  Innocent,  and  the  prejudice 
against  the  Jewish  race  was  too  strong  for  Anacletus 
in  countries  which  were  too  distant  or  too  virtuous  to 
be  tempted  by  his  mone)'.     He  was  bound  to  seek 


RESTORATION   OF    THE    SENATE  33 

an  ally  elsewhere,  and,  as  the  price  of  his  assistance, 
recognised  the  Norman  Roger  as  King  of  Sicily  and 
thus  laid  the  foundation  of  a  monarchy  which  lasted, 
in  one  form  or  another,  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  But  for  the  moment  Roger  could 
not  aid  him,  and  Lothaire,  who  had  succeeded 
Henry  V.  on  the  German  throne,  escorted  Innocent  to 
Rome,  and  was  there  crowned  Emperor  in  the  Lateran. 
A  second  march  into  Italy  cost  Lothaire  his  life,  but 
the  Jewish  Pope  died  soon  afterwards,  and  Innocent, 
aided  by  the  persuasive  eloquence  of  St.  Bernard, 
ruled  alone  at  Rome.  The  King  of  Sicily  alone 
remained  hostile,  and  the  Pope  was  unwise  enough  to 
attack  him.  Innocent  was  taken  prisoner,  and  had  to 
recognise  Roger  as  Anacletus  had  done  before  him. 
One  more  humiliation  was  reserved  for  him.  In- 
furiated at  his  annexation  of  Tivoli  for  his  own 
benefit,  his  Romans  rose  against  him,  and  he  died 
in  1 143  at  a  moment  when  his  temporal  power  seemed 
to  be  slipping  from  his  grasp.  For  the  Roman  people, 
inspired  by  the  example  of  the  Republics  of  Northern 
Italy  even  more  than  by  the  memory  of  their  own 
classical  past,  in  the  next  year  restored  the  ancient 
Senate,  which  had  long  ceased  to  exist,  and  installed 
it  on  the  Capitol  as  a  token  of  the  popular 
sovereignty. 

The  agitation  against  the  claims  of  the  Papacy  to 
temporal  dominion  had  about  the  same  time  found  a 
powerful  champion  in  Arnold  of  Brescia,  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  figures  of  the  twelfth  century.  Born 
in  the  city  whence  he  derived  his  name,  Arnold 
emigrated    to    France,  and    studied   philosophy    and 

4 


34  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

theology  under  the  guidance  of  Abelard.  Returning 
to  his  native  town,  he  flung  himself  with  all  the  ardour 
of  an  apostle  and  all  the  skill  of  a  demagogue  into 
the  conflict  which  was  then  raging  between  the 
citizens  and  their  bishop.  He  unhesitatingly  main- 
tained that  the  possession  of  propert}'  by  the 
clergy  was  against  the  divine  ordinance,  that  to 
Caesar  belonged  the  things  that  were  Caesar's,  and 
that  tithes  alone  belonged  of  right  to  the  priests. 
The  corruption  in  the  Church,  which  moved  the 
indignation  of  St.  Bernard,  lent  additional  force  to 
the  arguments  of  Arnold,  and  not  a  {^^n  shared  his 
opinion  that  nothing  but  a  complete  severance  of  the 
clergy  from  worldly  things  could  restore  the  primitive 
purity  of  religion.  The  secularisation  of  the  States 
of  the  Church,  which  he  inscribed  on  his  banner, 
found  favour  in  Rome  no  less  than  in  the  North  of 
Italy,  and  the  clerical  party  in  alarm  for  its  privileges, 
condemned  him  as  a  schismatic,  ordered  him  to  hold 
his  peace,  and  exiled  him  from  the  country.  The 
exile  once  more  took  refuge  with  Abelard,  and 
boldly  preached  the  new  gospel,  which  was  merely  a 
revival  of  the  old,  to  the  people  of  Paris,  until  he  was 
compelled  to  seek  a  surer  asylum  at  Zurich,  then,  as 
now,  the  home  of  banished  agitators  from  other  lands. 
From  Zurich  he  wandered  to  Germany  under  the 
protection  of  a  liberal-minded  Cardinal,  who  had 
been  his  fellow-pupil  in  Abelard's  lecture-room,  and 
there  disappeared  from  view  till  he  suddenh'  re- 
appeared among  the  Republicans  of  Rome.  But  the 
result  of  his  doctrines  was  already  apparent  there. 
Having  restored  the  Senate  the  peoj)le  proceeded  to 


THE    TEMPORAL    POWER  35 

place  a  democratic  noble  of  the  Pierleone  family  at 
the  head  of  their  new  organisation  with  the  title  of 
Patricius,  and  demanded  the  deposition  of  the  Pope 
from  all  temporal  power.  This  was  to  be  handed 
over  to  the  Patricius,  and,  in  return,  the  product  of 
the  tithes  or  a  pension  was  to  be  assigned  to  the 
Pope. 

It  was  not  in  the  nature  of  things  that  Lucius  II., 
who  had  been  chosen  Pope  after  the  brief  reign  of 
Innocent's  successor,  Celestine  II.,  would  yield  with- 
out a  struggle  what  has  always  been,  and  still  is,  the 
great  object  of  papal  policy.  He  applied  for  aid  to 
Conrad  III.  of  Hohenstaufen,  who  had  lately  ascended 
the  German  throne;  but  that  diplomatic  monarch  was 
not  sorry  to  see  the  papal  power  diminished,  and 
declined  to  intervene.  Thrown  back  on  his  own 
resources,  Lucius  stormed  the  Capitol,  where  the 
Patricins  and  the  Senate  were  entrenched.  But  a 
stone  thrown  by  one  of  the  defenders,  smote  him 
as  he  was  mounting  the  Capitoline  slope,  and  history 
must  register  a  Pope  among  the  many  eminent  men 
who  have  fallen  on  that  celebrated  spot. 

His  successor,  Eugenius  III.,  had  to  flee  to  Viterbo, 
and  the  Romans,  freed  from  even  the  presence  of  the 
Pope,  abolished  the  Prefecture  of  the  city,  the  repre- 
sentative at  Rome  of  the  authority  of  the  Emperor. 
The  Senate  and  the  people,  as  of  old,  were  to  rule 
supreme,  with  the  Patricins  at  their  head  as  their  repre- 
sentative. But  Rome  had  many  enemies  among  the 
nobles  and  townsfolk  of  the  Campagna,  and  the  fickle 
people  soon  grew  tired  of  their  new  chief.  Eugenius 
was  able  to  make  terms  with  them,  on  condition  that 


36  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

he  recognised  their  constitution  and  they  paid  him 
homage.  The  Patricius  was  deposed,  the  office  of 
Prefect  of  the  city  was  restored,  the  Senate  was  re- 
elected annually  in  the  presence  of  papal  officials,  and 
the  proud  inscription,  Senatus  Popiilusqiie  Rouiamis, 
was  once  more  to  be  read  on  the  coins.  Civil  cases 
came  before  a  tribunal  of  senators,  and  thus,  under  the 
suzerainty  of  the  Pope,  the  Romans  enjoyed  complete 
political  liberty.  But  they  were  not  content,  and 
the  appearance  of  Arnold  of  Brescia  in  their  midst 
increased  the  prevailing  feeling  of  unrest.  The  great 
agitator  had  made  his  peace  with  the  Pope,  and  vowed 
to  submit  in  silence.  But  the  atmosphere  of  Rome 
soon  caused  him  to  forget  his  vow,  and  the  C'apitol 
rang  with  his  declamations  in  indifferent  Latin  against 
the  abuses  that  still  existed  in  the  Church.  He  spoke 
of  the  pride  and  rapacity  of  the  Cardinals,  and 
branded  their  college  as  "  a  bench  of  money-changers 
and  a  den  of  thieves  "  ;  he  denounced  the  Pope  as  the 
"hangman  of  the  Churches  and  the  destroyer  of 
innocence";  and  he  backed  up  his  arguments  by 
citations  from  the  classics  and  those  rhetorical  devices 
\\hich  ne\er  fail  to  please  a  Latin  audience.  The 
purity  of  his  own  life  strengthened  his  logic  in  the 
opinion  of  his  hearers,  and  the  senators  took  him  into 
their  service  as  a  useful  advocate.  Even  in  the  ranks 
of  the  clergy  there  were  some  who  heard  him  gladly, 
and  the  Pope,  who  had  left  Rome  in  disgust  some 
little  time  before,  hastened  to  excommunicate  the 
daring  demagogue,  who  had  wrought  so  much  harm 
in  his  absence.  St.  Bernard  wrote  to  the  Romans, 
imploring  them  to  listen  to  the  Pope,  without  whom 


HADKI.W    I\ 


38  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

their  cit}'  would  be  "a  rump  without  a  head,  a  face 
without  eyes."  The  tact  of  Eugenius  seems  to  have 
had  more  effect  than  the  epistle  of  St.  Bernard,  for  he 
returned  to  Rome  and  was  peacefully  buried  there, 
and  the  brief  rule  of  his  successor,  Anastasius  IV.,  did 
not  disturb  the  relations  between  the  Church  and  the 
Senate.  But  it  was  only  an  armed  peace,  for  there 
now  mounted  the  papal  throne  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  Popes,  Nicholas  Breakspear,  the  only 
Englishman  who  has  ever  occupied  that  great 
position.  Twice  since  his  day  the  election  of  an 
English  Pope  seemed  possible,  but  no  one  has 
attained  to  Breakspear's  unique  distinction.  Of  all 
the  262  medallions  of  the  Chief  Pontiffs  which  look 
down  on  the  visitor  in  the  Church  of  St.  Paul-outside- 
the- walls,  that  of  Hadrian  IV.,  alone  contains  an 
English  face.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
traveller  will  ever  find  the  features  of  a  compatriot  in 
in  the  still  vacant  spaces. 

The  life  of  this  distinguished  Englishman  is  a 
striking  proof  that  in  the  Roman  hierarchy,  far  more 
than  in  English  public  life,  the  career  is  indeed  "open 
to  talent."  Nicholas  Breakspear  was  born  at  Abbot's 
Langle)',  the  son  of  a  poor  clerk  of  St.  Alban's, 
where,  as  a  box-,  the  future  Pope  begged  for  alms. 
Ashamed  that  the  lad  should  have  to  live  on  charity 
in  his  native  land,  Nicholas'  father  sent  him  abroad. 
After  numerous  adventures  he  became  Prior,  and 
subsequently  Abbot,  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Rufus  of 
Aries,  near  Valence,  and  ruled  that  establishment  in 
a  way  that  showed  a  capacity  for  government.  His 
learning,   his    powers    of   speech,    and    his    imposing 


ELECTION    OE   AN   ENGLISH   POPE  39 

presence  attracted  the  notice  of  Eugenius  III.,  whom 
he  had  occasion  to  see  while  he  was  engaged  in 
defending  his  character  in  Rome  against  the  attacks 
of  the  enemies  whom  his  strict  discipHne  had  made. 
Eugenius  created  him  CarcHnal  of  Albano,  and 
despatched  him  as  legate  to  Norway,  where  he 
organised  the  Church  with  much  circumspection.  On 
his  return  to  Italy,  he  found  the  Papacy  vacant,  and 
on  December  5,  1 154,  he  was  unanimously  elected  to 
fill  the  vacancy,  in  the  same  month  that  Henr}-  II. 
became  king  of  his  native  land.  The  iron}^  of  fate 
decreed  that  the  beggar  boy  of  St.  Alban's  should 
bestow  Ireland  upon  that  proud  Plantagenet  monarch, 
and  thus  unconsciously  open  a  question  which  in  our 
own  day  has  been  the  chief  preoccupation  of  British 
statesmanship.  Yet  even  in  favouring  the  English 
king,  he  did  not  forget  to  remind  him  that  "  all 
islands  were  the  exclusive  pro  pert}'  of  St.   Peter." 

Although  he  had  passed  most  of  his  life  abroad. 
Hadrian  IV.  possessed  that  dogged  determination  of 
character,  which  we  are  wont  to  associate  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  Me  was  not  the  man  to  relinquish 
one  jot  of  the  papal  power  to  any  Senate  or  any  dema- 
gogue, and  lost  no  time  in  threatening  the  destruction 
of  the  new  constitution  and  demanding  the  banish- 
ment of  Arnold.  Although  for  the  moment  shut  up 
in  St.  Peter's — for  his  enemies  were  in  possession  of 
the  Lateran — he  launched  against  the  rebellious  cit)' 
a  thunderbolt,  which  no  previous  Pope  had  dared  to 
hurl,  even  in  his  hour  of  direst  need.  An  assault  upon 
a  Cardinal  gave  him  an  excuse  for  laying  Rome  under 
the    Interdict  ;    every  religious    service   cea.sed,   the 


40  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

mass  was  no  longer  celebrated  ;  the  dead  were  no 
longer  buried  in  consecrated  ground.  In  later  and 
more  enlightened  days  even  the  Interdict  lost  some  of 
its  terrors;  but  Hadrian's  example  was  so  successful, 
that  it  long  found  imitators.  For  a  brief  period  the 
citizens  endured  the  terrible  punishment  of  the  Pope; 
but  the  weak  and  the  superstitious,  the  priests  and  the 
women,  soon  counselled  surrender,  and  when  four 
da)-s  of  the  Easter  ceremonies  had  passed  uncom- 
memorated,  the  people  rose  and  compelled  the  Senate 
to  yield.  Hadrian  had  triumphed,  and  would  only 
consent  to  listen  to  the  prayers  of  the  senators,  who 
were  grovelling  at  his  feet,  on  condition  that  they  at 
once  drove  Arnold  out  of  the  city.  After  nine  years 
of  constant  agitation,  the  great  demagogue  was  once 
more  compelled  to  flee  from  one  castle  to  another,  in 
the  hope  of  finding  some  spot  where  the  long  arm  of 
the  inflexible  Englishman  could  not  reach  him.  On 
the  Wednesday  after  Easter  Hadrian  withdrew  the 
Interdict,  and  a  joyful  procession  escorted  him  to  the 
Lateran.  But  he  did  neither  forget  nor  forgive  the 
prophet  of  Brescia.  Frederick  Barbarossa  was  on  his 
way  to  be  crowned  in  Rome,  and  Hadrian  asked  him, 
as  an  earnest  of  his  good-will,  to  have  Arnold  arrested. 
Barbarossa  complied  with  his  request,  and  sent  the 
enemy  of  the  Church  to  Rome,  there  to  await  the 
papal  pleasure.  But  the  Pope  had  first  to  make  sure 
of  the  German  sovereign,  and  discover  whether  he 
came  as  friend  or  foe.  After  careful  negotiations, 
they  met  at  Viterbo,  but  not  till  an  absurd  piece  of 
etiquette  had  been  performed.  It  had  always  been 
the  custom  for  princes  to  hold  the  stirruj)  of  the  Pope, 


THE   STIRRUP   QUESTION  4I 

and  Hadrian  was  not  the  man  to  neglect  such  an 
outward  sign  of  his  authority  over  mere  earthly 
potentates.  When,  however,  he  arrived  in  front  of 
Barbarossa's  tent,  the  spirited  young  German  did  not 
come  out  to  greet  him,  in  order  that  he  might  escape 
what  he  considered  a  degradation.  Terrified  at  his 
dalliance  within  his  tent,  the  papal  retinue  fled,  leaving 
the  Pope  alone  in  the  midst  of  the  German  host.  But 
the  Teutonic  legions  had  no  terror  for  the  cool-headed 
Englishman.  Hadrian  calmly  dismounted  and  seated 
himself  on  a  chair  ;  and,  when  at  last  Barbarossa  ap- 
peared and  went  down  on  his  knees  before  him,  he 
refused  to  give  him  the  kiss  of  peace.  The  great 
question  of  the  stirrup  was  discussed  for  hours  with 
all  the  zeal  that  diplomatists  bestow  on  trifles,  until 
finally  some  members  of  Barbarossa's  retinue,  who 
had  accompanied  his  predecessor,  Lothaire,  to  Rome, 
and  witnessed  that  prince's  performance  of  this 
ceremony,  induced  him  to  yield  for  the  sake  of  form. 
Next  da\'  the  greatest  of  German  Emperors  held  the 
stirrup  of  the  beggar-lad  from  St.  Alban's,  and  gave 
it,  we  are  expressly  told,  a  "  vigorous  "  pull.  The 
scene  of  this  incident  is  still  shown  to  tourists  on  the 
piazza  in  front  of  the  cathedral  at  Viterbo,^  and, 
trivial  as  it  was,  it  was  typical  of  the  age  and  of 
the  men. 

Yet  a  further  characteristic  event  took  place  before 
Barbarossa  entered  Rome.  The  Senate,  filled  with  its 
own  importance,  sent  a  deputation  to  inform  him,  on 
what  conditions  it  would  consent  to  his  coronation  as 

'  Another  authority  places  it  on  the  shores  oi  the  Lake  of  Janula, 
near  Nepi,  between  Rome  and  Viterbo. 


42  ARNOLD   OF  BRESCIA 

Emperor.  In  high-fiown  language  which  recalls  the 
worst  platitudes  of  the  silver  age  of  Latin  literature, 
the  envoys  reminded  him  of  the  greatness  of  the 
Roman  people  and  the  former  extent  of  its  sway,  and 
bade  him  listen  to  what  "  his  duty  "  enjoined.  Un- 
accustomed to  be  addressed  in  this  fashion,  the 
monarch  expressed  astonishment  at  their  boundless 
presumption,  and  capped  their  classical  quotations  by 
reminding  them,  how  one  of  their  own  historians  had 
said  that  "  Rome  was  once  virtuous."  "  But  the 
virtues  of  ancient  Rome,"  Frederick  continued,  "have 
been  transported  to  Germany,  and  We  hold  the  club 
of  Hercules,  which  none  can  take  from  Us."  The 
deputation  rode  back  to  Rome  in  disgust,  and  soon 
St.  Peter's  rang  with  the  voices  of  the  Germans, 
acclaiming  Frederick  I.  as  Emperor.  Hadrian  was 
willing  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation, 
but  the  spectacle  of  an  Englishman  crowning  a  German 
in  St.  Peter's  did  not  appeal  to  the  Romans.  The)' 
rushed  over  the  bridges  of  the  Tiber  and  fell  upon  the 
Imperial  camp,  while  the  Emperor  was  still  at  the  coro- 
nation-banquet. The  bridge  of  Sant'  Angelo  was  the 
scene  of  a  prolonged  conflict,  which  onl\-  ended  with 
nightfall,  and  man}-  perished  by  the  sword  or  were 
drowned  in  the  river.  Next  day  Barbarossa  thought 
it  prudent  to  quit  the  city,  and  withdrew  home.  But 
before  he  left  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome,  the 
prisoner,  whom  he  had  delivered  up  to  the  Pope,  met 
his  fate.  The  end  of  Arnold  of  Brescia  is  obscure,  but 
it  seems  that  the  Prefect  of  the  city  passed  sentence  of 
death  upon  him,  with  the  assent  of  the  Emperor,  as  a 
heretic    and  a  rebel.     In  vain  the   condemned    man 


DEATH   OF  ARNOLD  43 

pleaded  the  purity  of  his  doctrines  ;  his  judges  re- 
torted with  the  convincing  argument  that  they  were 
unorthodox,  and  he  was  told  that  he  must  recant  or 
die.  He  chose  the  latter  alternative,  and  died  like  a 
Christian  saint  and  a  Roman  hero.  Even  after  death, 
his  body  was  not  spared  ;  like  that  of  Wycliffe,  it  was 
burned  and  the  ashes  were  thrown  into  the  river,  so 
that  no  relic  of  him  should  come  into  the  hands  of  his 
followers.  But  his  influence  lived  long  after  him,  and 
all  who  have  opposed  the  temporal  power  of  the 
Papacy  may  be  reckoned  as  his  disciples.  Even  his 
enemies  admitted  that  he  was  honest,  and  seven 
centuries  after  his  death  his  name  was  made  a  party- 
cry  against  Pius  IX.  In  his  native-town  he  has  now 
been  honoured  with  a  statue,  but  the  greatest,  and 
perhaps  most  enduring,  monument  to  his  power,  is  the 
Italian  occupation  of  Rome. 

So  far  Hadrian  had  been  entirely  successful.  He 
had  humbled  the  Romans  ;  he  had  asserted  his 
authority  over  the  Emperor  ;  he  had  rid  the  Church 
of  a  troublesome  reformer.  But  his  real  troubles  now 
began.  He  had  to  accept  the  terms  of  King  William 
I.  of  Sicil}',  and,  by  so  doing,  estranged  the  Emperor  ; 
while,  though  he  added  Orvieto  to  the  papal  posses- 
sions, he  converted  the  Kaiser  into  an  active  enemy 
by  the  language  in  which  he  permitted  himself  to 
write  to  that  autocratic  potentate.  He  had  taken 
occasion  to  remind  the  Emperor  that  his  coronation 
was  due  to  the  papal  condescension,  and  that  his 
Imperial  crown  depended  on  one  who  was  higher  than 
all  sovereigns,  the  Pope.  Barbarcssa  replied  in  an 
indignant    manifesto    that  he   derived    the    Imperial 


44  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

power  from  God  alone.  All  Germany  supported  the 
Imperial  interpretation  of  the  relations  between 
Church  and  State,  and  Hadrian  had  to  send  a  second 
message,  explaining  away  the  language  of  the  first. 
But  the  Emperor  soon  took  the  offensive,  and  raised 
again  the  whole  question  of  investiture,  which  had 
been  allowed  to  slumber  since  the  days  of  Calixtus 
II.  It  is  said  that  he  went  so  far  as  to  regret  the 
death  of  Arnold  of  Brescia,  in  whom  he  would  now 
have  found  a  valuable  ally  against  the  Pope.  But 
Hadrian  was  not  long  for  this  world.  On  September 
I,  1159,  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  pontificate,  he  died  at 
Anagni,  the  old  papal  town,  which  the  traveller  may 
see  on  his  way  to  Naples.  Here  he  closed  his 
strange  career,  leaving  behind  him  one  of  the  most 
touching  confessions  of  the  vanity  of  human  greatness 
that  history  contains.  "  Would  that  I  had  never  left 
England,"  he  told  his  countryman,  John  of  Salisbur}-, 
"  or  had  remained  in  the  Convent  of  St.  Rufus  !  Is 
there  an}'where  in  the  world  a  creature  so  wretched 
as  the  Pope?  I  found  in  the  Holy  See  so  much 
distress,  that  all  the  bitterness  of  m)'  past  life  seemed 
to  me  sweet  in  comparison.  If  the  Pope-elect  be  a 
Croesus  to-day,  he  will  be  a  beggar  and  in  debt  to 
countless  creditors  to-morrow.  Truly  is  the  Pope 
called  '  a  servant  of  servants '  ;  for  the  greed  of  the 
Romans'  servile  souls  makes  him  a  slave,  and  if  he 
cannot  satisfy  them,  then  he  must  quit  his  throne  and 
Rome  as  a  fugitive."  This  was  Hadrian's  description 
of  the  Papacy  in  his  time,  a  description  all  the  more 
convincing  because  it  was  not  the  complaint  of  an 
ascetic  who,  in  Gibbon's  phrase,  had  "  renounced  the 


DEATH   OF  HADRIAN    IV.  45 

honours  which  it  is  probable  he  would  never  have 
obtained,"  but  the  deliberate  opinion  of  a  clerical 
statesman  who  had  won  the  highest  prize  of  his 
profession.  Moreover,  this  great  Englishman  was  no 
weakling  ;  {&\^  Popes  have  had  more  practical  minds, 
or  knew  more  clearly  what  they  wanted  and  how  to 
obtain  it.  But  the  times  had  changed,  and  lie  could 
not  "  set  them  right."  In  the  ancient  crypt  of 
St.  Peter's  a  granite  sarcophagus  contains  the  mortal 
remains  of  the  only  English  Pope,  and  the  portico  of 
the  Church  of  SS.  Giovanni  e  Paolo  on  the  Ca^lian 
hill,  which  another  Englishman,  Cardinal  Howard, 
restored  twenty-one  years  ago,  is  his  work.  None 
other  of  the  seven  hills  contains  so  many  memories 
of  our  own  history,  or  bears  such  striking  witness  of 
the  connection  between  Rome  and  England.  It  is 
there  that  the  Church  of  San  Gregorio  reminds  the 
English  visitor  how  Gregory  the  Great  bade  St. 
Augustine  godspeed  on  his  mission  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  heathen  Britons.  It  is  within  that 
building  that  one  of  the  most  famous  of  English 
envoys  to  the  Roman  Court  lies  buried  ;  and  it  was 
there,  too,  that  Cardinals  Wiseman  and  Manning,  in 
our  own  time,  endeavoured  to  heal  the  breach  between 
England  and  the  Papacy.  But  Hadrian  IV.  will,  it 
is  hoped,  no  longer  be  commemorated  by  his  portico 
on  the  Cailian  hill  alone.  The  British  Roman 
Catholics,  assembled  in  Rome  during  the  last  Hol\' 
Year,  decided  to  raise  subscriptions  towards  a  statue 
of  the  only  English  Pope.  There  should  be  no 
difficulty  in  reproducing  the  features  of  the  man  from 
the    portraits   which   we  have    of  him.      One    of  his 


46  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

biographers  has  left  us  a  full  description  of  his 
personal  qualities.  Hadrian  IV.,  we  are  told,  had  a 
patient  disposition  and  a  kindly  manner  ;  he  was 
"  slow  to  anger,  but  swift  to  pardon  "  ;  he  was  a  good 
preacher,  and  could  perform  the  services  of  the 
Church  in  a  fine  voice  ;  he  spoke  both  Latin  and 
English  well,  in  spite  of  his  long  absence  from  his 
native  land  ;  and  he  possessed  the  gift  of  eloquence 
as  well  as  the  art  of  conducting  business.  He  was 
charitable  to  the  poor,  and  in  all  respects  an  upright 
man — one,  in  fact,  of  whom  both  England  and  the 
Papacy  have  reason  to  be  proud. 

The  death  of  Hadrian  left  two  parties  in  the 
college  of  Cardinals,  one  friendly  to  the  Emperor, 
the  other  opposed  to  his  influence.  Each  faction 
nominated  a  Pope  of  its  own,  and  once  more  a 
papal  schism  found  leaders,  one  styled  Victor  IV., 
the  other  xA.lexander  III.  The  latter,  destined  to 
be  the  mightiest  adversary  of  Barbarossa,  was 
consecrated  in  the  town  of  Xinfa,  on  the  edge 
of  the  Pontine  Marshes,  a  spot  now  abandoned 
to  malaria,  while  his  rival  held  the  city.  The 
Emperor  naturally  acknowledged  his  supporter  as 
the  true  head  of  the  Church,  while  Alexander 
retorted  by  excommunicating  the  Emperor.  The 
death  of  Victor  gave  Alexander  an  opportunity  of 
regaining  possession  of  Rome  ;  but  Barbarossa  lost 
no  time  in  having  another  Pope  elected  and  in 
sending  an  arm\'  to  support  him.  At  Monte  Porzio, 
near  Frascati,  a  battle  took  place,  in  which  the  curious 
spectacle  was  presented  of  two  German  archbishops 
leading  troops  against  a  Pope.     The  Romans  had  not 


BATTLE    OF  MONTE    P0R7J0  47 

put  SO  many  men  into  the  field  for  centuries,  but  they 
were  utterly  routed,  and  only  a  third  of  their  forces 
returned  to  tell  the  tale.  Since  the  fatal  day  of 
Cannae,  says  an  annalist,  there  had  been  no  such 
slaughter  of  the  Romans.  Old  men  and  matrons 
wept  in  the  streets,  and  Alexander  shed  tears  of 
sorrow.  The  Emperor  soon  arrived  in  person  before 
the  gates,  and  St.  Peter's,  converted  into  a  fortress 
for  the  occasion,  alone  resisted  his  attack.  But  when 
the  most  famous  Church  in  the  world  was  threatened 
with  destruction  at  the  hands  of  the  assailants,  the 
besieged  laid  down  their  weapons,  yet  not  before  the 
doors  had  been  battered  by  axes  and  the  marble  floor 
covered  with  corpses.  The  Te  Deiiin^  which  was  sung 
by  the  victors,  seemed  a  mockery  to  those  who  had 
witnessed  the  temple  of  Christendom  conv^erted  into 
a  battlefield,  where  armoured  bishops  contended 
for  the  mastery  in  the  name  of  the  religion  of 
peace.  The  Turks,  who  three  centuries  later  entered 
Santa  Soj^hia  over  the  bodies  of  the  Christians, 
were  perhaps  less  sacrilegious  than  these  Christian 
desecrators  of  St.  Peter's.  Then,  the  excited  people, 
as  is  the  manner  of  the  Latin  races,  demanded  a 
scapegoat,  and  insisted  on  the  abdication  of  Alexander. 
The  latter  refused  and  fled  ;  Barbarossa  could  make 
his  own  terms  with  the  Romans,  and  install  his  own 
Pope  under  the  title  of  Paschalis  III.  The  Senate 
and  people,  who  had  treated  him  so  arrogantly  when 
he  was  on  his  wa)'  to  Rome  for  his  coronation,  now 
acknowledged  him  as  their  liege  lord,  in  return  for 
his  recognition  of  their  privileges  ;  he  stood  at  the 
summit  of  his  power.     But  a  cloud,  at  first  no  bigger 


48  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

than  a  man's  hand,  arose  one  August  day  ;  rain  fell  in 
torrents,  and  burning  heat  followed  the  rain.  Malaria, 
the  curse  of  Rome  in  the  Middle  Ages,  fell  upon  the 
German  army,  and  Roman  fever,  more  deadly  than 
any  weapons,  swept  off  the  victors  of  Monte  Porzio. 
The  survivors  saw  the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  this  fearful 
visitation.  The  Emperor  had  to  retreat  before  a 
general  whom  the  skill  of  that  age  was  unable  to 
vanquish,  but  whom  the  young  twentieth  century 
seems  likely  to  subdue  ;  and  Becket,  whose  fortunes 
in  England  varied  with  those  of  the  Pope  in  Italy, 
could  write  to  Alexander,  comparing  Barbarossa  with 
Sennacherib  and  his  correspondent  with  Hezekiah. 
But  i\lexander's  rival,  Calixtus  III.,  who  had  been 
chosen  Pope  on  the  death  of  Paschalis,  still  kept  him 
out  of  the  city,  and  it  was  in  the  castle  of  Tusculum 
that  he  learnt  the  news  of  his  friend  Becket's  murder 
at  Canterbury,  and  received  the  envoys  of  the  English 
clergy  and  those  of  the  English  king,  whose  gold  had 
been  assiduously  employed  throughout  this  papal 
schism.  "If  the  Pope  should  die,"  it  was  said, 
"  Henr\'  II.  had  the  whole  college  of  Cardinals  in  his 
pay,  and  could  name  his  Pope." 

It  was  the  spirit  of  democracy,  a  new  and  unnatural 
ally,  even  more  than  Henry's  subsidies,  which  saved 
the  papal  power  and  restored  Alexander,  its  repre- 
sentative, to  his  throne.  The  Lombard  Republicans 
inflicted  a  severe  defeat  upon  Barbarossa  at  Legnano, 
and  that  autocrat  was  glad  to  make  his  peace  with 
the  Church.  A  Congress  was  held  at  Venice,  which 
deposed  Calixtus,  and  recognised  Alexander  ;  the 
Emperor  kissed  the  feet  of  the  Pontiff  at   the   portal 


AI.F.XANDF.R    III.  49 

of  San  Marco,  relinquished  his  claims  on  the  city  of 
Rome,  and  acknowledged  the  Pope  as  its  independent 
lord.  After  ten  years'  exile  Alexander  returned  to 
the  Lateran,  the  anti-Pope  begged  and  obtained  his 
forgiveness,  and  the  schism  was  at  an  end.  But 
Alexander,  whose  reign  of  twenty-two  years  was  one 
of  the  longest  in  the  annals  of  the  Papacy,^  lived  long 
enough  to  experience  once  again  the  fickle  nature  of 
the  crowd,  and  the  people  who  had  strewn  flowers  in 
his  path  when  he  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  threw 
stones  at  his  coffin,  when,  in  1181,  it  was  smuggled 
into  the  Lateran.  His  victory  over  Barbarossa  at 
the  Congress  at  Venice  and  the  penance  which  he 
inflicted  on  Henry  H.  of  England  for  the  murder  of 
Becket  raised  the  prestige  of  the  Papacy,  and  caused 
the  name  of  Rome  to  be  esteemed  and  feared  by 
two  of  the  most  powerful  monarchs  of  the  age. 
But,  as  usually  happened  in  the  history  of  the  Papacy, 
a  reaction  set  in,  and  the  three  immediate  successors 
of  Alexander,  lived  and  died,  mere  shadowy  names, 
in  exile.  Then  Clement  HI.,  a  Roman  by  birth,  came 
to  an  agreement  with  the  Roman  democrac}-  in  a 
document  which  sanctioned  the  powers  of  the 
senators,  on  condition  that  they  swore  allegiance  to 
the  Pope,  and  provided  that  one-third  of  the  Roman 
tolls  should  be  expended  for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 

'  Tlie  longest  reigns  liave  been  those  of  I'ius  IX.  (31  years, 
7  months),  Pius  W.  (24  years,  8  months),  Hadrian  I.  (23  years, 
10  months),  and  the  present  Pope  (2^  years,  8  months.)  .St.  Peter  is 
usually  inserted  as  second  to  Pius  IX.,  of  whom  alone  was  falsified  the 
famous  saying,  "  Thou  shalt  not  see  the  years  of  Peter,"  i.e.,  25.  The 
anti-Pope,  Benedict  XIII.,  as  we  shall  see  later,  considered  himself 
Pontiff  for  over  29  years. 

5 


50  ARXOI.D    OF  nRF.SCJ.-1 

On  these  terms  Clement  returned  to  Rome  and  was 
able  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  third  Crusade,  in 
which  Richard  Coeur-de-Lion  bore  so  conspicuous  a 
part.  It  is  curious  to  find  the  English  sovereign,  who 
had  touched  at  Ostia  on  his  way  to  the  East,  scornfully 
rejecting  the  polite  invitation  of  the  Pope  that  he 
should  honour  Rome  with  a  visit.  The  King  told  the 
papal  messenger  bluntly  that  he  understood  there  was 
nothing  but  avarice  and  corruption  at  the  Lateran, 
and  complacently  went  on  his  way.  Yet,  when  the 
lion-hearted  monarch  was  lying  in  an  Austrian 
dungeon,  his  mother  and  friends  did  not  hesitate  to 
write  impassioned  letters  to  Clement's  successor, 
Celestine  III.,  begging  for  his  intervention.  When 
the  King  had  been  released,  Celestine  intervened,  and 
excommunicated  his  captor  just  as  he  excommunicated 
the  Emperor  Henry  VI.,  whom  he  had  crowned  with 
the  utmost  condescension  a  few  years  before.  Thus 
the  twelfth  century  was  drawing  to  its  close  with  the 
reiteration  of  the  Pope's  claim  to  be  the  ruler  of 
princes,  and  when  Celestine,  in  the  words  of  a 
contemporary  English  writer,  "  struck  the  crown  of 
the  Emperor  with  his  foot,  and  cast  it  to  the  ground," 
his  contemptuous  act  was  symbolical  of  that  power 
over  temporal  sovereigns,  which,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  next  chapter,  was  so  emphaticall)-  claimed  b}'  his 
great  successor. 

Meanwhile  Rome,  too,  like  her  master,  was  becoming 
more  and  more  conscious  of  her  grandeur.  At  the 
close  of  the  twelfth  century  the  capital  of  Christendom 
was  not,  indeed,  a  temple  of  virtue  or  a  shrine  of 
culture,  and  the  beginnings  of  archaeological   stud)', 


STAT/-:  or  nil-  momlmexts  51 

which  mark  that  era,  would  not  have  interested 
England's  fighting  sovereign.  Yet  the  Jewish 
traveller,  lienjamin  of  Tudela,  who  had  visited  the 
spot  some  thirty  years  earlier,  exclaimed  that  "  no 
man  could  count  the  buildings  and  monuments  of 
Rome."  We  cannot  believe  all  the  details  which 
that  imaginative  author  gives,  but  there  seems  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  at  the  date  of  his  visit  much 
remained,  which  has  since  disappeared.  Yet  much 
had  been  destroyed  during  the  wars  and  tumults  of 
the  century  which  we  have  just  described.  The  ruins 
of  the  city  had  been  used  as  quarries,  and  fragments 
transported,  wherever  transport  was  possible,  to  adorn 
churches  and  abbeys  elsewhere.  Some  monuments 
were  happily  saved  by  being  assigned  to  private 
individuals  or  corporations  ;  thus  half  of  the  Arch 
of  Severus  was  awarded  in  1199  to  the  Church  of 
SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  and  half  to  the  heirs  of  a 
certain  Ciminus.  The  restoration  of  the  Senate  in 
that  century,  by  reviving  the  names  and  memories  of 
the  past  led  also  to  the  preservation  of  objects  which 
recalled  the  days  of  the  ancient  Romans.  The 
senators  undertook  to  keep  the  city  walls  in  order, 
and  near  the  now  closed  Porta  Metronia  may  still  be 
read  the  names  of  those  of  their  Order,  who  restored 
that  portion  of  the  ramparts  in  1 1 57.  Another 
senator  restored  the  Ponte  Cestio,  and  in  1162  the 
Senate  resolved  to  preserve  Trajan's  column  "to  the 
honour  of  the  whole  Roman  people,"  and  sentenced 
to  death  any  one  who  dared  to  mutilate  it.  In  our 
own  da)'  that  famous  pillar  has  been  the  rendezvous 
of  Roumanian   pilgrims,  who  see  in  Trajan's  victories 


52  ARNOLD    OF  BRESCIA 

over  their  Dacian  ancestors  a  bond  with  Rome,  and 
thus  it  has  become  a  token  of  the  union  between 
the  Latin  races.  People  began,  even  in  the  twelfth 
century,  to  see  that  Rome  derived  no  small  amount  of 
prestige  from  its  ruins,  and  church  architecture,  too, 
showed  signs  of  improvement  with  the  increased  love 
of  the  beautiful  in  art.  Sta.  Maria  in  Cosmedin  and 
Sta.  Maria  in  Trastevere  were  restored  at  that  period  ; 
additions  were  made  to  the  Lateran,  then  the  usual 
residence  of  the  Popes  ;  and  the  beginnings  of  the 
future  papal  palace  of  the  Vatican  date  from  the  same 
era.  So,  in  spite  of  papal  exile  and  civic  commotions, 
the  twelfth  century  marked  an  advance  in  artistic 
matters  and  an  increased  interest  in  archaeology. 
Culture  was  still  defective,  and  literature  meagre, 
with  the  exception  of  the  revival  of  Roman  juris- 
prudence. But  the  Romans  were  proud  of  the  history 
that  lay  written  in  their  ruins,  although  the\'  could 
not  always  decipher  it. 


Ill 


INNOCENT    III.   AND   THE   ZENITH    OF    THE    PAPACY 


Shortly  before  the  twelfth  century  closed,  Rome 
witnessed  the  consecration  of  one  of  the  most  resolute 
men  who  have  ever  sat  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  On 
a  February  day  in  1198,  the  three  bishops  of  Ostia, 
Albano,  and  Portus  performed  that  sacred  office  in 
St.  Peter's,  and  the  new  Pope,  seated  on  a  chair, 
received  from  the  hands  of  the  Archdeacon,  amidst  the 
applause  of  the  people,  the  round,  pointed  tiara,  which 
Constantine  was  said  to  have  given  to  Sylvester  I. 
"  Take  the  tiara  that  thou  mayest  know  that  thou  art 
the  father  of  princes  and  kings,  the  ruler  of  the  world, 
the  vicar  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  on  earth,  whose 
is  the  honour  and  the  glor)'  for  ever  and  ever."  With 
these  words  the  Archdeacon  crowned  the  Chief 
Pontiff,  who  then  rose  from  his  seat  and  mounted 
a  horse  covered  with  scarlet  trappings  as  a  sign  of  his 
sovereignt)'.  The  noblest  personage  present  held  his 
stirrup,  and  accompanied  him  a  little  way  on  foot  ; 
then  all  mounted  their  steeds,  a  richh'  caparisoned 
horse  of  the  Pope  leading  the  procession  without  a 
rider.      Then    followed    the    bearer   of    the   crucifix, 

53 


54      /.\NOCENT  III.  A\D  THE    ZENITH    OF    THE    PAPACY 

twelve  carriers   of   red   banners,   two   horsemen   with 
golden  cherubim  on  their  lances,  the   two  prefects  of 
the  sea,  the  notaries,  advocates  and  judges   in    their 
long    robes    of  office,   the   singers,  the  deacons    and 
sub-deacons,    the    foreign    abbots,    the    bishops    and 
archbishops,    the     abbots     of     the     twenty    Roman 
abbeys,  the  patriarchs  and  cardinal-bishops,  cardinal- 
presbyters    and    cardinal-deacons.      Then   came    the 
Pope  himself  on  a  white  palfrey,  led  b\'  senators  or 
by  nobles  on  either  side.    The  municipal  corporations, 
the  militia,  the  knights  and  grandees  of  Rome  closed 
the  procession,  which  paraded  to  the  sound  of  bells 
and    solemn    songs    through    the    triumphal    arches, 
which  marked  the  route  known  as  the  Via  Papae.    The 
Pope    halted    in    the    Jews'    quarter    to    receive    the 
acclamations  of  the  chosen  people,  who  stood  in  fear 
with  the  Rabbi  at  their  head  and  offered  the  roll  of 
the  Pentateuch  to  the  new  sovereign.      Glancing  at 
the  roll,  the  Pope  returned  it  with  condescension  to 
the  Rabbi,  and  the  Jews  went  back  cowering  to  their 
homes  amid  the  scornful  cries  of  the  Roman  mob,  to 
which   at   five  fixed   places   the    papal    chamberlains 
threw  handfuls  of  mone)-.      By  the  way  of  the  Arch 
of  Titus  and  the  Colosseum,  the  procession  at  last 
reached  the  Lateran.      There,  as  a  token  of  humilia- 
tion, the   Pope   reposed   for  a  moment  on  a   marble 
chair,  still   preserved   in    the    Vatican    Museum,  and 
technically  called  sedes  stej'coraria  or  "  the  filthy  seat," 
whence  the  Cardinals  hastened  to  raise  him.^    Then  he 
took  three  handfuls  of  gold,  silver,  and   copper  from 

'   In  allusion  to  Psalm  cxiii.  7,  "  He  raiselh  up  the  poor  out  of  the 
dust,  and  lifteth  the  needy  out  of  the  dunghill." 


PAPAL    CEREMONIAL  55 

one  of  his  chamberlains,  and  threw  the  coins  amon^^ 
the  crowd  with  the  most  inappropriate  quotation  : 
"  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  such  as  I  have 
give  I  thee."  After  a  prayer  in  the  Lateran  he  took 
formal  possession  of  that  residence,  and  received  from 
its  prior  the  crozier  and  the  keys  of  the  church  and 
palace.  Girded  with  a  red  silk  girdle,  on  which  hung 
a  purple  purse,  he  then  received  the  officials  of  the 
Lateran,  who  were  admitted  to  kiss  his  foot.  After 
they  and  the  Cardinals  and  prelates  had  done 
obeisance,  the  Senate  proffered  its  homage,  and  the 
day  closed  with  a  banquet,  at  which  the  Pope  sat 
alone,  and  the  highest  among  the  guests  waited  upon 
him. 

Innocent  III.,  who  entered  on  his  pontificate  with 
these  traditional  ceremonies,  belonged  to  the  noble 
family  of  the  Conti,  Counts  of  Segni,  and  was  born  at 
the  neighbouring  town  of  Anagni  in  Ii6i,  two  years 
after  the  death  of  Hadrian  IV.  at  the  same  spot. 
After  studying  theology  at  Paris  and  law  at  Bologna, 
he  returned  to  seek  his  fortunes  in  Rome.  Blessed 
with  the  highest  form  of  ability — influential  relatives — 
he  soon  procured  the  recognition  of  his  talents  and 
learning  by  his  uncle,  Pope  Clement  1 1 1.,  who  created 
him  a  Cardinal  before  he  was  nine-and-twenty.  The 
successor  of  Clement,  belonging  to  an  opposition 
family,  stigmatised  this  appointment  as  a  gross  act 
of  nepotism,  and  gave  the  young  Cardinal  an  op- 
portunity of  composing  in  retirement  a  tract  on 
"  Contempt  of  the  world  and  the  misery  of  human 
life."  When  the  next  vacancy  in  the  Papacy  occurred, 
the  jihilosophic  author  demonstrated  the    difference 


56     AV.VOCEMT  in.  AND    THE    ZENITH    UE    THE    P.IP.4CV 

between  precept  and  practice  by  accepting  the  post 
which  the  Conclave  ofifered  to  him.  A  German  poet 
complained  that  a  Pope  wlio  was  only  37  }'ears  of 
age  was  "far  too  young";  but  Walther  von  der 
Vogelweide  did  not  know  his  man.  Innocent  was 
fully  conscious  of  his  own  strength,  and  set  out  witli 
a  determination  to  execute  the  policy  of  Hildebrand 
and  make  himself  the  autocrat  of  Christendom. 
Beginning  with  the  cit}',  which  was  under  his  more 
immediate  jurisdiction,  he  at  once  made  his  force  of 
will  felt.  He  compelled  the  Senate  to  recognise  him 
as  its  lord,  and  the  Prefect  of  the  city,  who  repre- 
sented the  Empire,  acknowledged  himself  to  be  his 
vassal  Innocent  became  the  Supreme  Court  of 
ApjDeal  for  Christendom,  and  from  England,  France, 
and  Spain  litigants  appeared  before  the  Roman 
tribunal.  One  town  after  another  in  the  Campagna 
accepted  his  temporal  rule  ;  even  Perugia  for  the  first 
time  did  homage  to  the  Pope.  But  the  feuds  of  the 
Roman  noble  families,  among  which  the  Orsini  began 
to  be  prominent,  were  not  easily  prevented.  That 
noble  race  was  the  hereditary  rival  of  Innocent's 
relatives,  and  was  loath  to  lose  the  position  which 
it  had  gained  under  his  predecessor,  the  first  Pope  of 
the  Orsini  clan.  Originally  settled  at  Spoleto,  the 
family  had  migrated  to  Rome,  with  whose  civic  feuds 
they  were  soon  identified.  They  made  even  Innocent 
feel  their  influence,  and  by  the  irony  of  fate,  at  the 
very  moment  that  the  Latin  Crusaders  were  taking 
Constantinople  from  the  Greeks,  the  head  of  the 
Roman  Church,  who  had  urged  on  the  Crusade  and  was 
ready  to  take  this  new  Latin   Elmpire  under  his  pro- 


58     INNOCENT  I/f.  AXD    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE    PAPACY 

tection,  was  an  exile  from  Rome,  and  that  city  was 
given  over  to  faction  fights.  The  ancient  monuments 
lent  themselves  to  that  kind  of  warfare,  for  they  could 
be  easily  converted  into  fortresses,  as  was,  for  instance, 
the  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella,  while  wooden  towers 
could  be  run  up  in  a  night.  The  Colosseum  itself 
served  as  a  castle  to  the  Frangipani,  and  from  its 
topmost  tiers  of  seats  it  was  easy  to  hurl  missiles 
upon  an  enemy  below.  At  last  every  one  grew  sick 
of  fighting,  and  the  crafty  Pope  was  able  to  return 
and  make  his  own  terms  with  the  exhausted 
Romans. 

The  importance  of  Innocent's  pontificate  in 
English  history  is  well  known,  and  only  indirectly 
concerns  the  annals  of  Rome.  We  need  only  refer 
here  to  his  quarrel  with  King  John  over  the  election 
of  Stephen  Langton  as  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
the  Interdict  which  he  placed  on  England,  and  his 
excommunication  of  the  English  sovereign.  Nor  is 
it  necessary  to  do  more  than  allude  to  John's  recon- 
ciliation with  him,  the  homage  which  he  paid  for  his 
kingdom  to  Innocent,  and  the  subsequent  annulment 
of  Magna  Charta  by  the  Pope.  These  things  show 
the  power  of  the  man  even  in  a  land  so  remote  as  our 
own  then  was  from  the  centre  of  the  Church.  Nor 
need  we  make  more  than  a  passing  reference  to  the 
excommunication  of  Philippe  Auguste,  the  most 
powerful  of  mediaeval  kings  of  France.  More  closely 
allied  to  the  history  of  Rome  was  his  action  in  the 
crisis  which  was  then  rending  Germany  in  twain. 
The  sudden  death  of  the  Emperor,  Henry  VI.,  at 
Nizza  di  Sicilia,  half-way   between   Messina  and   the 


THE   POPE   AND    THE    E\n'lRE  59 

lovely  town  of  Taormina,  at  the  time  when  his  son 
Frederick  was  still  only  a  child,  had  left  a  disputed 
succession  between  Philip  of  Swabia  and  Otto  of 
Brunswick,  and  Innocent,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Hilde- 
brand,  seized  the  occasion  to  increase  the  power  of 
the  Papacy  at  the  expense  of  the  tlmpire.  He 
decided  in  favour  of  Otto,  who,  in  return,  abandoned 
the  Imperial  claims  in  the  larger  part  of  Italy,  and 
acknowledged  the  independence  of  the  States  of  the 
Church  in  a  document,  which  all  later  Emperors 
recognised  as  valid,  and  which  served  thereafter  as 
the  title-deed  of  the  papal  dominions.  But  Otto, 
freed  from  alarm  by  the  death  of  his  rival,  had  no 
sooner  been  crowned  by  Innocent  in  Rome  than  he 
turned  against  his  maker.  Innocent,  however,  held 
one  trump  card  in  his  hand,  and  he  played  it  ;  he  put 
forward  P"rederick,  the  son  of  Henry  VI.,  who  had 
now  almost  grown  up,  as  a  candidate  for  the  German 
throne.  Frederick,  "  the  priests'  king,"  as  his  oppo- 
nents nicknamed  him,  was  ready  to  promise  all  that 
Innocent  desired,  and  that  statesmanlike  Pontiff 
enjoyed  a  distinguished  triumph  when  more  than 
1,500  prelates  and  princes  from  all  lands  knelt  at 
his  feet  in  the  Lateran  at  that  great  Council  which 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Imperial  throne.  The  Pope 
treated  the  German  rivals  as  mere  pawns  in  the  great 
game,  and  we  cannot  wonder  that  the  patriotic  poets, 
like  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  inveighed  against 
this  foreigner,  who  claimed  to  give  away  the  crown  of 
their  country  at  his  pleasure.  But  this  was  Innocent's 
last  victory ;  in  1216  he  died  at  Perugia,  the  arbiter 
of  Europe  and  the  master  of  Rome.     With  him  the 


6o    INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH    OF    THE    PAPACY 

Papacy  reached  its  political  zenith.  Astute,  clear- 
sighted and  unscrupulous,  he  was  more  of  a  diplo- 
matist than  a  divine  and  more  of  a  statesman  than 
a  saint.  Constantinople,  under  the  brief  Latin  rule, 
took  its  ritual  from  Rome,  and  thus  the  great  dream 
of  the  Popes  to  unite  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Churches  seemed  to  be  realised  for  the  moment. 
From  Aragon  a  king  came  voluntarily  to  be  crowned 
by  his  hands,  while  in  far  Norway  his  voice  was 
heard  with  attention.  Yet  just  at  the  time  of  his 
greatest  glory,  a  still,  small  voice  was  raised,  which 
was  one  day  destined  to  roll  like  thunder,  so  that  even 
the  Roman  Church  trembled  before  it.  Heretics  are 
always  a  minority,  or  they  would  not  be  so  called  ; 
but  revolutions  are  the  work  of  minorities,  and,  despite 
the  cruel  persecution  inflicted  on  them  by  the  Church, 
the  Albigenses  of  Provence  effected  a  revolution  in 
spiritual  things.  Despite  their  cruel  fate,  they  may 
be  regarded  as  the  forerunners  of  later  and  greater 
reformers,  who  struck  their  blows  more  forcibly  and 
at  a  more  favourable  moment.  Even  within  the  pale 
of  the  Church  itself  there  rose  up  two  notable  teachers, 
St.  PVancis  of  Assisi  and  St.  Dominic,  who  both 
practised  and  preached  the  gospel  of  plain  and  godly 
living.  Thirteen  years  after  the  death  of  Innocent, 
the  first  settlement  of  the  Franciscans  took  place  in 
Rome  at  the  spot  where  San  Francesco  a  Ripa  now 
stands;  the  Dominicans  established  themselves  in  the 
Church  of  Sta.  Sabina  on  the  Aventine.  and  in  the 
adjacent  garden  the  tourist  may  still  see  the  orange 
tree  said  to  ha\-e  been  planted  b}-  their  founder.  The 
Roman  Church,  with  its  usual  skill,  availed  itself  of 


ORANGE   TKEE   OF   ST.    DOMIXIC. 


02     /XyOCF.NT  I//.  AMP    THE   /.RNITH   OF    THI-.    PAPACY 

the  enthusiasm  of  these  two  Orders,  and  thus  those 
who  perhaps  with  less  tactful  handling  might  have 
become  dissenters  served  in  the  ranks  of  that  army 
which  usually  finds  a  place  for  every  kind  of  talent 
and  a  talent  for  every  kind  of  place. 

The  reign  of  Innocents  successor,  Honorius  III., 
was  signalised  by  an  event,  which  has  occurred 
once  only  in  the  long  annals  of  Rome — the  coronation 
of  an  Eastern  Emperor  by  the  hands  of  the  Pope. 
In  1 2 17,  Peter  of  Courtenay,  the  legendary  ancestor 
of  the  noble  English  family  of  that  name,  was 
crowned  outside  the  walls  in  the  Church  of  San 
Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mura,  in  order  to  avoid  any  awk- 
ward claims  to  Roman  sovereignty  which  might 
have  been  raised  had  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople 
been  crowned  inside  Rome.  Three  years  later  the 
German  Emperor,  Frederick  II.,  received  his  crown 
from  the  Pope  in  St.  Peter's,  and  for  almost  the  first 
time  the  ceremony  passed  off  without  the  customary 
conflict  between  the  Roman  populace  and  the 
Emperor's  German  retinue.  For  another  century  no 
German  Kaiser  was  crowned  in  Rome,  and  thus  the 
two  coronations  which  marked  the  pontificate  of 
Honorius  stand  out  with  unusual  lustre  in  the  history 
of  the  city.  But  Frederick  had  to  pay  dearly  for  his 
visit.  He  had  to  recognise  the  immunity  of  the 
clergy  from  taxation,  admit  the  complete  freedom 
of  the  Church,  and  vow  vengeance  against  Christian 
heretics,  no  less  than  infidel  Mussulmans.  The  work 
of  Innocent  III.  was  complete  ;  the  Church  was  full}' 
independent  of  the  Emperor,  and  Honorius  enjoyed 
a  more  peaceful  possession  of  the  Papal  States  than 


64     INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    /.F.NITH    OF    THE    PAPACY 

most  of  his  predecessors.  In  England  he  posed  as 
suzerain  of  the  country,  and  guardian  and  hege  lord 
of  its  young  king,  Henry  III.,  whose  cause  he 
espoused  against  the  rebellious  barons  and  their 
French  allies. 

His  successor,  Gregory  IX.,  who  was  elected  in 
1227,  when  between  eighty  and  ninety  years  of  age, 
was  of  a  less  pacific  disposition.  An  eloquent  speaker 
and  a  skilful  jurist,  he  was  a  man  of  strong  will  and 
pure  in  private  life.  Like  Honorius,  he  professed  to 
be  intensely  anxious  for  a  fresh  Crusade,  and  when 
the  reluctant  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  after  having  at 
last  taken  ship  at  Brindisi,  turned  back  and  landed 
again,  he  publicly  excommunicated  him,  more  out 
of  jealousy  of  his  influence  than  from  a  desire  to 
see  Jerusalem  freed.  The  two  ancient  enemies, 
Pope  and  Kaiser,  were  once  more  unmasked.  Both 
issued  manifestoes,  accusing  one  another  and 
justif)'ing  themselves,  the  Pope  addressing  himself 
to  the  bishops,  the  Emperor  sending  a  circular  note 
to  the  kings,  and  reminding  them  of  what  had 
recently  happened  in  England  in  consequence  of 
papal  aggression.  The  Imperial  language  was  strong 
and  plain  ;  it  described  the  abuses  in  the  Church,  the 
greed  of  the  clergy,  the  ambition  of  the  Papacy  in  a 
wa\'  that  would  have  been  heretical  in  a  person  of 
less  exalted  rank.  Amidst  applause  the  document 
was  read  aloud  on  the  Capitol,  where  an  Imperial 
party  was  speedily  formed.  Such  confusion  reigned 
at  the  headquarters  of  the  Church,  that  the  Pope 
was  interrupted  by  the  mob  as  he  was  declaiming 
against  the  Kaiser   in  St.  Peter's,  and  driven  out  of 


OVERFLOW   OF    THE    TIBER  65 

the  city.  The  departure  of  Frederick  for  the  Holy 
Land,  instead  of  appeasing  the  papal  fury,  only 
increased  it,  thus  showing  what  Gregory's  real  motive 
had  been  in  excommunicating  his  rival.  The  cynical 
world  witnessed  the  curious  spectacle  of  a  Pope  over- 
running the  Italian  lands  of  an  absent  Crusader, 
and  our  English  ancestors  were  compelled  by  the 
papal  legate  to  pay  tithes  for  this  eminently 
unapostolical  expedition.  On  hearing  of  the  invasion 
of  his  dominions,  the  Kaiser  returned,  and  drove  "  the 
soldiers  of  the  keys  "  beyond  his  borders.  Saracen 
troops  fought  on  his  side  against  the  papal  forces, 
while  the  Roman  Senate  congratulated  him  at  his 
success  over  Gregory.  Superstition,  however,  and 
an  inundation,  caused  by  an  overflow  of  the  Tiber, 
procured  for  the  Pope  the  return  of  his  faithless 
subjects  to  their  allegiance.  Hunger  and  plague 
followed  the  flood,  and  messengers  were  hastily 
despatched  to  Perugia,  where  the  Pope  was,  to 
implore  him  to  come  back.  Gregory  returned  in 
triumph,  and  set  to  work  to  repair  the  damage 
done  by  the  floods.  He  restored  the  bridge  now 
known  as  the  Ponte  Rotto,  which,  as  has  often 
happened,  had  been  swept  away  by  the  river ;  he 
erected  a  workhouse,  and  distributed  food  and  money. 
But  he  found  Rome  full  of  what  he  considered  a 
worse  evil  than  sickness  and  famine.  The  number 
of  heretics  had  greatly  grown  during  his  absence, 
and  demanded,  he  thought,  drastic  measures  of 
repression.  So  he  made  his  peace  with  the  Emperor, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  uprooting  these 
rank  weeds,  which  threatened  to  choke  the  vineyard 

6 


66     INNOCENT  /J/.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OE    THE    PAPACY 

of  the  Church.  For  the  first  time  Rome  saw  the 
fires  of  persecution  ablaze  by  order  of  a  Pope.  The 
Inquisitors  erected  their  tribunal  before  the  doors  of 
Sta.  Maria  Maggiore ;  the  Cardinals,  the  Senator 
(for  one  man  alone  then  represented  the  majesty 
of  the  restored  Senate),  and  the  judges  took  their 
seats,  and  the  idle  crowd  assembled  to  witness  the 
grim  sport.  Not  only  were  the  convicted  shut  up  in 
distant  monasteries  or  burned  alive,  but  rewards  were 
offered  to  informers,  whose  evidence  would  lead  to 
the  discovery  of  more  heretics,  and  thus  the  hideous 
system  of  the  Roman  Emperors  was  revived.  It 
became  the  first  duty  of  the  Senator  to  punish  heresy, 
and  woe  to  him  who  declined  to  do  it !  No  medifeval 
Tacitus  has  described  the  social  condition  of  Rome 
under  this  new  reign  of  terror  ;  but  we  may  be  sure, 
that  private  hatred  found  the  Inquisition  an  excellent 
means  of  gratifying  itself,  and  that  it  was  easier  to 
get  a  man  convicted  of  heresy  than  to  bring  a  civil 
action  against  him.  What  the  charge  of  high  treason 
was  to  the  Romans  under  Tiberius,  that  was  the 
charge  of  heresy  to  the  Romans  under  Gregory, 
Even  kings  found  it  cheaper  to  save  their  souls,  and 
at  the  same  time  increase  their  revenues,  by  sending 
a  heretic  to  the  scaffold  than  b)' making  large  presents 
to  the  Church,  and  the  liberal-minded  Emperor 
Frederick  II.,  who  was  in  some  respects  far  in 
advance  of  his  time,  deemed  it  convenient  to  give  a 
fresh  batch  of  these  poor  wretches  to  the  flames 
whenever  he  wanted  to  be  on  good  terms  with  the 
Pope. 

But  the  Roman  people,  relieved  from   famine   and 


BATTLE    OF    VITERBO  6/ 

plague,  soon  grew  tired  of  the  papal  presence.  More 
than  once  Gregory  was  forced  to  flee,  and  his 
subjects  actually  proclaimed  the  patrimony,  of  St. 
Peter  as  the  property  of  the  city.  He  appealed  to 
the  Catholic  world  for  aid  against  his  rebellious 
people,  and  the  latter  had  to  yield,  when  the  Emperor 
came  to  assist  the  Pope.  By  a  curious  combination, 
the  two  powers,  who  in  the  past  had  so  often  been 
opposed  on  this  very  question  of  the  temporal 
sovereignty  of  the  Papacy,  were  for  a  moment 
united  in  its  defence.  It  was  the  Roman  munici- 
pality, which  in  1234  was  the  assailant  of  that 
sovereignty;  it  was  the  Kaiser  who  helped  to  preserve 
it  to  the  sovereign  Pontiff.  At  the  battle  of  Viterbo, 
in  which  the  Romans  were  repulsed,  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  Peter  des  Roches,  was  one  of  those  who 
commanded  the  forces  of  the  Pope.  But,  while  the 
latter  still  thought  fit  to  remain  in  exile,  his  Imperial 
ally  could  boast  that  Italy  was  his  inheritance,  and 
that  the  whole  world  recognised  the  fact.  It  was 
only  when  the  Romans  again  began  to  feel  the  pinch 
of  hunger  that  they  implored  the  Pope  to  come  back 
from  his  refuge  at  Viterbo  and  live  among  them. 
A  huge  sum  of  money  was  expended  in  bribes  to 
secure  the  favour  of  the  people,  wine  and  corn  were 
distributed  by  priests  in  the  papal  interest,  and  the 
delighted  Romans  are  said  to  have  decreed  that 
henceforth  no  Pope  should  be  allowed  to  quit  their 
city.  Their  joy  was  completed  by  the  gift  of  the 
Emperor,  who,  victorious  over  the  Lombard  cities,  sent 
the  spoils  of  Milan,  among  them  the  famous  carroccio, 
or  car  on  which  the  Milanese  standard  was  carried,  as 


68     INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE    PAPACY 

a  trophy  to  Rome.  There  they  were  set  up  on  the 
Capitol,  where  a  commemorative  Latin  inscription,  one 
of  the  few  memorials  of  the  German  Emperors  in  the 
Eternal  City,  may  still  be  read  over  the  staircase 
of  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservator!.  But  the  Pope  feared 
any  increase  of  the  Imperial  power,  and  this  aggran- 
disement of  Rome  at  the  expense  of  Milan  was  not 
to  his  taste.  For  the  second  time  he  took  up  his 
parable  against  the  P^mperor,  and,  intervening  in 
the  cause  of  the  Lombard  cities,  excommunicated 
P'rederick  IP  again.  The  Kaiser  issued  a  counter- 
blast to  the  Romans,  bidding  them  take  his  side 
under  pain  of  incurring  his  displeasure,  while  Gregory 
rejoined  with  an  encyclical,  which,  in  the  language 
of  a  Hebrew  prophet,  set  forth  the  claims  of  an 
Italian  prince.  An  English  chronicler  has  described 
the  effect  of  these  rival  documents  on  the  minds  of 
our  countrymen.  The  arrogant  pretensions  of  the 
Papacy  during  the  reigns  of  John  and  Henry  IIP, 
and  especially,  the  exaction  of  tithes  and  taxes  for 
ecclesiastical  purposes,  had  embittered  public  opinion 
against  the  Roman  Curia,  while  the  Kaiser  had  never 
had  a  penny  from  the  PLnglish  ta.xpayer.  Yet  the 
Emperor,  though  Henry  IIP  was  his  brother-in-law, 
found  that,  in  spite  of  these  extortions,  the  English  were 
furnishing  the  sinews  of  war  with  which  the  Pope 
was  contending  against  him.  Undaunted  by  papal 
comminations,  he  marched  into  the  States  of  the 
Church,  and  was  soon  only  two  da}-s'  distance  from 
Rome.  Everything  depended  on  the  decision  of  the 
Romans  ;  and,  placed  between  the  alternative  of  be- 
coming the  vassals  of  the  Emperor,  the  bitter  foe  of  all 


70     INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE   PAPACY 

civic  automony,  or  of  remaining  under  the  milder 
rule  of  the  Pope,  they  mostly  decided  for  the  latter. 
Gregory  was  fully  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  con- 
firmed the  waverers  by  a  striking  appeal  to  their 
imagination.  He  organised  a  solemn  procession, 
in  which  the  relics  of  the  Cross  and  the  heads  of  the 
Apostles  were  conveyed  from  the  Lateran  to  St. 
Peter's.  There  he  ordered  them  to  be  laid  on  the 
high  altar,  and,  taking  his  tiara  from  his  head,  placed 
it  upon  them,  and  cried  aloud,  "  Ye  holy  ones,  protect 
Rome,  which  the  Romans  wish  to  betra)- !  "  Religious 
enthusiasm  at  once  seized  those,  who  had  hesitated 
before.  Many  took  the  Cross  against  the  Kaiser,  as 
if  he  had  been  an  infidel  Saracen,  and  he  had  to 
retire.  But  Gregory  was  no  longer  concent  with 
having  defended  the  city  ;  he  wished  to  carry  the 
war  into  the  enemy's  camp,  and  invoked  a  council  to 
pronounce  sentence  on  the  Emperor.  The  letter 
of  a  cleric,  who  wrote  to  a  correspondent  urging  him 
not  to  attend  it,  throws  incidentally  a  lurid  light  on 
the  condition  of  a  town  in  the  }'ear  1241,  which  is 
now  one  of  the  healthiest  capitals  in  Europe.^  "  How 
can  you  be  safe  in  Rome,"  he  wrote,  "when  all  the 
citizens  and  clergy  are  daily  fighting  for  and  against 
the  two  opponents  ?  The  heat  there  is  unbearable  ;  the 
water  bad ;  the  food  coarse  and  rough  ;  the  air  so  dense 
that  you  can  feel  it  with  your  hands ;  there  are  swarms 
of  mosquitoes  and  scorpions  ;  the  people  are  dirty 
and  disgusting,  and,  as  the  whole  city  is  undermined 
with  catacombs,  a  poisonous  and  deadl}'  vapour  rises 

'    The    death-mte    of  Rome,    wliich    in    1875   was  l^'(),  fell  in  1S99 
to  17-2. 


DEATH   OF   GREGORY   IX.  y\ 

out  of  the  ground."  Many,  who,  undeterred  by  these 
terrors,  set  out  for  the  council,  were  arrested  by  the 
Emperor  on  the  way,  but  even  disaster  could  not 
induce  the  unbending  Pope  to  yield  and  make  peace. 
Richard  of  Cornwall,  brother  of  Henry  III.,  in  vain 
came  to  Rome  to  mediate.  But  age,  and  the 
August  climate,  effected  what  persuasion  had  failed 
to  accomplish.  Almost  a  centenarian,  Gregor)'  IX., 
succumbed  in  the  Lateran,  where  Frederick  II., 
encamped  at  Grotta  Ferrata,  had  kept  him  a  true 
prisoner.  With  one  doubtful  exception,  he  was  the 
oldest  of  all  the  Popes. 

No  sooner  had  P'rederick  heard  the  news  of  his 
stubborn  enemy's  death  than  he  abandoned  his  attack 
on  the  city,  where  the  demise  of  Gregory's  successor 
after  only  seventeen  days  of  office  left  the  Church 
once  more  without  a  head.  Nearly  two  years  elapsed 
without  a  fresh  papal  election.  The  Cardinals  fled 
from  Rome  to  Anagni,  and  there  at  last,  in  1243, 
proclaimed  a  former  supporter  of  Frederick  as  Pope 
under  the  ominous  name  of  Innocent  IV.  "I  hav^e 
lost  a  good  friend  from  among  the  Cardinals,"  said 
the  Emperor,  when  he  heard  of  the  election,  "  for  no 
Pope  can  be  a  Ghibelline."  Events  showed  that  he 
was  right,  and  erelong  Innocent,  in  his  distrust  of  the 
Kaiser,  was  fleeing  in  disguise  to  his  native  Genoa. 
The  flight  of  the  Pope  was  not  achieved  without 
incident.  Storms,  and  the  fear  of  being  captured  by 
the  Imperial  Admiral,  compelled  him  to  take  refuge 
in  the  island  of  Capraja  off  Corsica  ;  but,  when  at  last 
he  arrived  safe  in  the  harbour  of  Genoa,  he  was  able 
to   pose  as  a  martyr,  and  gained  general  s)mpath)' 


72     INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF   THE    PAPACY 

in  his  struggle  against  Frederick.  But  the  foreign 
kings,  whom  he  asked  to  receive  him  in  their 
dominions,  excused  themselves  from  welcoming  so 
awkward  a  guest,  and  England  escaped  the  honour  of 
sheltering  a  Pope  in  his  exile  from  Rome.  A  council 
was  summoned  at  Lyons,  then  practically  a  free  city, 
and  the  Emperor's  deposition  announced ;  but 
Frederick  appealed  to  the  civilised  world  against  his 
rival  in  a  vehement  manifesto,  which  did  not  spare 
the  Church.  In  England,  at  any  rate,  he  found  a 
hearing  among  the  people,  for  the  remark  of  Innocent 
that  our  island  was  "  an  inexhaustible  well  of  wealth" 
was  not  the  opinion  of  the  English  taxpayers.  The 
English  view  of  the  matter  may  be  seen  in  the  reply 
of  the  King's  Council  to  the  suggestion  that  it  would 
give  Innocent  "  great  pleasure  to  see  the  pleasant 
city  of  Westminster  and  wealthy  London." — "  We 
do  not  want  the  Pope  to  pillage  us  "  was  the  brusque 
answer  to  this  proposal. 

But  the  Pope  did  not  wage  war  against  Frederick  II. 
alone  ;  he  declared  that  he  would  never  tolerate  any 
of  "  the  viper's  brood  "  of  the  Hohenstaufen  on  the 
throne.  It  was  a  war  without  pardon,  and  the  papal 
legates  did  not  even  draw  the  line  at  the  attempted 
assassination  of  "  the  second  Nero,"  as  the  Pope  styled 
his  adversary  in  the  address  which  he  issued  to  the 
Kaiser's  Sicilian  subjects  from  his  retreat  at  Lyons. 
Meanwhile  the  Romans  had  regretted  the  flight  of 
their  sovereign  to  Genoa,  and  still  more  his  sojourn  at 
Lyons.  Urgent  messages  were  sent  begging  him  to 
come  back  to  "  the  widowed  city,"  and  he  was 
reminded    of  St.  Peter's  return    to    Rome    for    very 


CHARACTER    OF   FREDERICK   //.  73 

shame  at  his  master's  reply  to  his  question,  "  Doniitie, 
quo  vadis  ?  "  The  fact  was  that  they  had  begun  to 
fear  the  permanent  removal  of  the  Papacy  from  their 
city,  to  which  it  was  a  source  of  profit  and  honour. 
Horace  has  said  that  we  dislike  virtue  when  it  is 
before  our  eyes,  but  seek  it  when  it  has  disappeared. 
So  was  it  with  the  Romans  and  the  Papacy.  While 
the  Pope  was  in  Rome  he  was  generally  unpopular  ; 
as  soon  as  he  had  gone  he  was  missed  by  the  fickle 
citizens.  Already  they  seemed  to  suspect  the  long 
residence  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon  in  the  next 
century.  A  great  event,  the  death  of  the  Emperor 
in  1250,  rendered  it  easier  for  Innocent  IV.  to  listen 
to  the  entreaties  of  his  subjects.  Frederick  II.,  the 
greatest  man  of  his  century,  rests  in  his  porphyry 
sarcophagus  in  the  Cathedral  of  Palermo,  but  even 
now  opinions  are  not  unanimous  about  his  career. 
The  clerical  historian  still  regards  him  with  the  eyes 
of  an  Innocent,  as  the  bitter  adversary  of  the  Papacy  ; 
the  liberal-minded  writer  considers  him  as  one  of  the 
champions  of  liberty  against  papal  claims.  The 
cause  of  freedom  has  triumphed  ;  but  it  would  be 
against  human  nature  to  depict  this  autocratic 
Emperor  of  the  thirteenth  century  as  the  fore- 
runner of  the  constitutional  king  who,  in  the  nine- 
teenth, broke  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope.  The 
immediate  effect  of  his  death  was  the  departure  of 
Innocent  from  Lyons,  after  six  years'  sojourn  there, 
and  his  entry  like  a  conqueror  into  Italy.  But  the 
Italy  which  he  found  on  his  return  was  not  the  same 
Italy  that  he  had  left.  The  spirit  of  municipal  free- 
dom had  made  great  progress  in  the  peninsula,  and 


74    INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE   PAPACY 

he  must  have  recognised  that  the  dream  of  a  temporal 
dominion,  which  should  coincide  with  the  boundaries 
of  the  Italian  nationality,  was  not  to  be  realised. 
Meanwhile,  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  charming  city 
of  Perugia,  the  favourite  residence  of  the  mediaeval 
Popes,  and  considered  what  policy  would  best  profit 
him  in  the  conflict  with  his  dead  rival's  sons, 
Conrad  IV.  and  Manfred,  of  whom  the  former  had 
succeeded  to  his  father's  dominions,  while  the  latter, 
a  bastard,  had  been  appointed  his  half-brother's  vice- 
roy in  Sicily  and  in  the  Italian  peninsula.  Finding 
that  he  could  gain  nothing  for  himself,  Innocent 
resolved  to  offer  the  Sicilian  crown  to  a  foreign 
prince,  who  would  snatch  it  from  the  hated  House 
of  Hohenstaufen.  Accordingly  he  turned  to  the 
English  reigning  family,  and  invited  Richard  of 
Cornwall,  brother  of  Henry  III.,  to  become  ruler  of 
Sicily.  Richard  refused,  but  Henry  accepted  the 
crown  for  his  own  second  son,  Edmund  of  Lancaster, 
at  that  time  onl)'  eight  years  old.  The  bargain  had, 
however,  scarcely  been  struck  when  the  death  of 
Conrad  IV.  led  Innocent  to  repent  that  he  had  made 
it.  Conrad  left  behind  him  Conradin,  a  child  of  two 
years,  and  Manfred  felt  unable  to  carry  on  the  con- 
flict, and  made  his  peace  with  the  Pope,  who  seemed 
on  the  point  of  attaining  his  object,  the  sovereignty 
of  the  dominions  of  the  Hohenstaufen  in  Southern 
Italy.  Manfred,  now  become  his  vassal,  led  Innocent's 
horse  by  the  bridle  over  the  river  Liris,  which 
marked  the  frontier,  and  the  Pope  entered  Naples 
as  its  overlord.  But  death  removed  Innocent  in  the 
hour  of  his  triumph,  and  in  the  same  year  that  had 


DEATH   OF  INNOCENT   IV.  75 

witnessed  the  demise  of  Conrad  IV.  he  breathed  his 
last  at  Naples. 

A  contemporary  English  historian  summed  up  the 
judgment  of  the  age  upon  Innocent  IV.  in  the  dying 
words  which  he  ascribed  to  him  when  his  weeping 
relatives  surrounded  his  couch,  "  Why  are  you 
lamenting?  Have  I  not  made  you  rich  enough?" 
In  truth,  Innocent  IV.  had  thought  of  little  else  but 
principalities  and  powers,  of  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  and  the  adding  of  kingdom  to  kingdom.  He 
had  inaugurated  the  system  of  nepotism,  which 
became  in  later  times  the  curse  of  the  Papacy  and 
the  mainspring  of  its  policy,  and  against  which  an 
Englishman,  Grosseteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  was  the 
first  to  protest.  A  true  successor  of  the  Pope  whose 
name  he  bore,  he  had  been,  like  the  third  Innocent, 
a  diplomatist  rather  than  a  priest.  He  hesitated  not 
to  break  solemn  treaties  when  it  suited  his  purpose, 
and  converted  the  world,  so  far  as  he  could,  into  an 
armed  camp,  where  men  strove  for  the  most  material 
ends  with  the  words  of  Scripture  on  their  lips.  He 
was  a  terrible  hater,  and  was  well  hated  in  return. 
But,  strong  as  he  was,  he  was  never  able,  amidst  all 
his  dreams  of  territorial  expansion,  to  make  himself 
real  master  of  Rome.  When,  after  nine  years  of  exile 
and  wanderings,  he  returned  there  he  had  to  seek  the 
aid  of  the  all-powerful  Senator  Brancaleone  to  save 
him  from  the  constant  pressure  of  his  importunate 
subjects. 

A  great  constitutional  change  had,  indeed,  been 
effected  a  little  earlier  in  the  government  of  Rome. 
Following  a  practice  then  common  in  other  Italian 


76    INXOCENT  III.  AXD    THE    7.EXITH   OF    THE    PAPACY 

cities,  of  which  a  vestige  may  still  be  traced  in  the 
sole  surviving  Italian  Republic  of  San  Marino,^  the 
Romans  had,  during  the  absence  of  the  Pope,  selected 
their  Senator,  or  Chief  Magistrate,  from  amongst  the 
nobles  of  Bologna.  Brancaleone,  a  notable  lawyer 
upon  whom  their  choice  had  fallen,  accepted,  on 
condition  that  he  was  elected  for  three  years  with 
absolute  power,  and  that  the  sons  of  eminent  Romans 
were  entrusted  to  him  as  hostages  for  his  personal 
safety.  For  the  first  time  the  two  principles  of  a 
three  years'  term  of  office  and  a  foreign  official  were 
adopted  by  the  Romans.  The  Senator  henceforth 
became  the  political  chief  of  the  community  in  peace 
and  war,  its  principal  judge  and  its  generalissimo  ;  he 
had  the  right  of  sending  envoys  to  other  states,  and 
of  concluding  treaties  with  foreign  potentates.  His 
name  appeared  on  the  coinage,  which  had  formerly 
been  the  prerogative  of  the  Popes.  His  official  garb — 
a  scarlet  robe  lined  with  fur,  and  a  cap  like  that  of 
the  Venetian  Doge — marked  him  out  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  people's  majesty.  But  his  power  had  its 
limitations  and  its  disadvantages.  He  could  not  quit 
the  city  for  more  than  a  certain  time,  nor  go  farther 
than  a  certain  distance.  He  was  forbidden  to  accept 
the  hospitality  of  a  noble  ;  and,  if  he  were  married, 
his  wife  could  not  be  with  him,  nor  was  any  near 
relative  allowed  to  accompany  him.  When  his  term 
of  office  was  drawing  to  a  close  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  examine  all  his  official  acts,  and  for 
ten  da\'s  any  one  who  had  aught  against  him  could 
la\'  his  complaints  before  the  chairman  of  this  body. 
'    Whose  doctors  and  policemen  are  always  chosen  abroad. 


POWER    OF    THE   SENATOR  77 

If  the  committee  found  him  guilty  of  maladministra- 
tion he  was  liable  to  forfeit  at  least  a  third  of  his 
salary,  or  to  be  arrested,  in  case  that  sum  proved 
inadequate,  liut  he  was  not  responsible  to  the  com- 
mittee alone.  On  all  important  occasions  his  heralds 
summoned  the  people  to  a  species  of  Parliament,  and 
the  bell  of  the  Capitol  invited  them  to  take  their 
seats  in  the  Church  of  Aracceli  or  on  the  Piazza  del 
Campidoglio.  It  was  there  that  the  Roman  people 
was  asked  to  signify  its  sovereign  pleasure  on  matters 
of  state,  such  as  the  recognition  of  an  Emperor  or 
the  recall  of  an  exiled  Pope.  There,  too,  embassies 
from  other  cities  came  before  it,  and  sued  for  the 
alliance  of  the  mediaeval  Republic.  Thus,  side  by 
side  with  the  papal  authority,  there  had  grown  up 
that  of  the  Senator  and  people  of  Rome  ;  and,  when 
the  executive  power  was  entrusted  to  a  strong  man 
like  Brancaleone,  the  proud  and  quarrelsome  nobility, 
no  less  than  an  ambitious  Pope  like  Innocent  IV., 
had  to  submit,  at  least  for  a  time,  to  his  dictation  or 
to  solicit  his  aid. 

The  history  of  the  Papacy  usually  shows  us  the 
succession  of  a  weak  and  pacific  Pope  to  a  strong 
and  ambitious  one.  Just  as  the  mild  Honorius  III. 
followed  the  proud  Innocent  III.,  so  the  warlike 
Innocent  IV.  was  succeeded  by  the  easy-going 
Alexander  IV.  On  his  entry  into  Rome  he  found 
the  city  in  a  state  which  bordered  upon  civil  war. 
Brancaleone's  three  years  of  office  had  just  expired, 
and  the  populace,  whose  cause  he  had  championed 
at  the  expense  of  the  nobles,  desired  his  re-election. 
The  opposite  party  left  no  stone  unturned  in  order 


78     INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE    PAPACY 

to  defeat  this  proposal  ;  complaints  against  his 
administration  were  lodged  with  the  committee  of 
investigation  ;  it  was  said  that  Rome  had  been 
handed  over  to  a  foreign  tyrant  who  now  sought  to 
perpetuate  his  tyranny.  Brancaleone,  who  had 
recently  adopted  the  style  of  "  Captain  of  the  Roman 
people,"  in  addition  to  his  official  designation  of 
Senator,  placed  himself  under  the  protection  of  the 
popular  party,  which,  however,  was  induced  to 
surrender  him  to  his  enemies.  His  death  would  have 
been  certain  had  it  not  been  for  the  thirty  hostages 
which  Bologna  still  held  for  the  safe  return  of  its 
distinguished  citizen.  The  Pope  demanded  the 
unconditional  surrender  of  these  hostages  ;  but  even 
the  terrors  of  the  Interdict  could  not  make  the 
Bolognesi  give  them  up,  and  it  was  only  when 
Brancaleone  had  been  set  free  that  they  yielded. 
Another  Senator,  also  a  foreigner,  was  elected  as 
his  successor,  but  tlie  guilds,  which  had  by  this  time 
become  a  popular  force  in  Rome,  rose  under  the 
leadership  of  a  master  baker  of  English  extraction  j 
the  new  Senator  was  slain  in  the  streets  ;  the  Pope 
was  forced  to  take  refuge  at  Viterbo  ;  and  Branca- 
leone was  recalled  and  reinstated  in  his  office.  The 
desire  for  revenge  increased  the  strength  of  his  arm  ; 
he  sent  two  prominent  nobles  to  the  gallows,  and 
scoffed  at  the  papal  weapon  of  excommunication. 
Another  of  his  measures  had  a  marked  effect  on  the 
external  appearance  of  the  city.  He  ordered  the 
destruction  of  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty 
fortresses  of  the  nobles  within  the  walls  ;  and  though 
the  wholesale  removal  of  these  robbers'  castles  was 


BRANCALEONE  79 

an  advantage  to  the  peace  of  the  burghers,  )-et  it 
inevitably  caused  the  ruin  of  many  classical  monu- 
ments on  which  some  of  these  towers  had  been  built. 
Brancaleone,  although  a  friend  of  the  people,  was 
thus  one  of  the  worst  enemies  of  the  archaeologist, 
and  from  his  time  a  new  period  of  decay  for  the  relics 
of  ancient  Rome  may  be  dated.  Archives,  no  less 
than  monuments,  disappeared  in  the  scenes  of  pillage 
which  followed,  and  thus  the  medictval  records  of 
Rome  were  impoverished.  Brancaleone,  whose 
career  recalls  that  of  the  tribunes  of  the  old  Roman 
Republic,  did  not  long  survive  this  purification  of 
the  cit}\  He  died  of  fever  in  1258,  and  his  head, 
as  a  rare  relic,  was  placed  by  his  admirers  in  a  costly 
vase,  and  set  on  a  marble  pillar  on  the  Capitol. 
Later  on,  the  Pope  ordered  the  destruction  of  this 
weird  monument,  the  only  one  that  commemorated 
the  great  "  Captain  of  the  people.'  No  inscription 
in  Rome  preserves  his  name,  but  there  are  coins 
still  in  existence  which  bear  it — the  first  instance  of 
a  Senator's  name  on  the  currency.  In  the  vivid  pages 
of  his  contemporary,  Matthew  Paris,  the  famous 
monk  of  St.  Alban's,  he  is  described  as  the  "hammer 
and  uprooter  of  the  haughty  lords  and  evildoers 
of  the  city,  the  protector  and  defender  of  the  people, 
the  imitator  and  lover  of  truth  and  justice."  The 
Bolognese  lawyer  has  thus  gained  a  place  in  history, 
beside  Rienzi,  and  had  he  lived  longer,  he  might 
have  yet  further  extended  the  power  of  the  Roman 
people  and  weakened  that  of  the  nobles  and  Pope. 
The  constant  struggles  in  the  Italian  cities,  the 
miserable   condition  of  the   people,   the  conflict   that 


8o    INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE   ZENITH^  OF    THE    PAPACY 

had  so  long  raged  between  Kaiser  and  Pope,  had 
at  last  produced  a  remarkable  reaction  which  affected 
Rome,  though  it  originated  at  Perugia.  Processions 
of  people  of  all  ages  and  professions  paraded  the 
streets,  scourging  themselves  till  the  blood  ran,  and 
calling  aloud  for  "  peace  and  the  grace  of  God." 
Aged  hermits  left  their  cells  to  join  in  the  throng 
of  these  "  Flagellants,"  as  they  were  termed;  monks 
and  priests  preached  repentance,  and  criminals 
prayed  to  be  punished  for  their  sins.  It  seemed  as 
if  the  human  conscience  were  at  last  awake,  and 
a  new  era  about  to  begin.  But  the  "Flagellants" 
made  little  impression  on  the  Papacy,  the  excite- 
ment of  self-inflicted  flogging  soon  wore  off,  and 
Alexander  IV.  pursued  unmoved  his  predecessor's 
persecution  of  the  House  of  Hohenstaufen. 

Alexander  had  confirmed  the  English  prince 
Edmund  in  the  sovereignty  of  Sicily,  and  urged  his 
father,  Henry  HI.,  to  take  effective  possession  of  the 
island  on  his  behalf.  But  Manfred  had  himself 
proclaimed  king  at  Palermo,  and  thus  became 
independent  alike  of  Germany  and  the  Pope.  The 
national  feeling  of  the  Italians,  weary  of  German 
intervention  in  their  affairs,  was  behind  him,  and  his 
papal  foe  died  before  he  could  achieve  the  great 
object  of  the  Church's  policy.  Urban  IV.,  the  next 
Pope,  a  Frenchman,  who  never  once  set  foot  in  the 
Lateran,  adopted  a  fresh  means  of  attaining  the 
same  end,  by  offering  the  Sicilian  throne,  regardless 
of  the  English  claims,  to  his  fellow-countryman, 
Charles  of  Anjou.  But  an  unexpected  event  some- 
what    alarmed    the    cautious    Pope.     Almost    at    the 


CHARLES    OF  ANJOU  01 

same  moment  that  he  was  negotiating  with  Charles, 
the  Guelph  party  at  Rome  chose  that  prince  as 
Senator,  while  the  opposite  faction  proclaimed 
Manfred.  It  was  the  first  time  that  a  foreigner  of 
royal  rank  liad  been  elected  to  that  post,  and  the 
Pope  had  no  wish  to  see  either  of  them  attain  such 
influence  in  his  own  city.  But  he,  and  his  successor, 
Clement  IV.,  another  Frenchman,  continued  to 
support  the  French  prince  against  the  Italian 
champion  ;  and  even  English  and  Scottish  bishops 
were  compelled  to  subscribe  to  the  expenses  of  the 
holy  war,  which  was  to  place  Sicily  under  a  French 
ruler.  Meanwhile  the  Romans  kept  urging  Charles 
to  come  among  them,  and  were  becoming  discon- 
tented at  the  doings  of  the  deputy  whom  he  had 
appointed  to  preside  over  their  councils  in  his 
absence.  At  last  he  landed  at  Ostia,  and  in  May, 
1265,  Rome  witnessed  the  strange  sight  of  a  fleet 
of  Provencal  galleys  sailing  up  the  Tiber,  and 
anchoring  off  the  church  of  St.  Paul-outside-the-walls. 
The  curious  citizens  hastened  to  greet  their  Senator 
and  Sicily's  future  king,  the  man  of  the  hard  face 
and  the  restless  mind,  who  complained  that  sleep 
shortened  his  time  for  action.  A  tournament  and 
knightly  songs  celebrated  his  entry,  and  the  guest 
made  himself  so  much  at  home  that  he  took 
possession  of  the  Pope's  Lateran  palace  without 
even  asking  Clement's  leave.  "  Thou  hast  taken 
upon  thyself  of  thine  own  accord  what  no  Christian 
king  has  ever  permitted  himself  to  do,"  wrote  the 
indignant  Pope.  "  Thou  shalt  know  that  it  is  in  no 
wise  agreeable  to  me  that  the  Senator  of  the  city, 

7 


52    INNOCENT  III.  AND    THE   ZENITH   OF    THE   PAPACY 

be  he  never  so  honourable,  should  reside  in  one  of 
the  papal  palaces.  Seek  for  thyself  a  dwelling 
elsewhere  ;  there  are  roomy  palaces  enough  in  the 
city."  Charles  took  the  hint,  and  moved  out  of  the 
Lateran.  He  was  invested  with  the  senatorial 
insignia  at  Aracceli,  and  lost  no  time  in  coining 
money  with  his  name  upon  it.  A  more  important 
ceremony  followed,  when  in  the  basilica  of  the 
Lateran  four  papal  plenipotentiaries  invested  him 
with  the  Sicilian  kingdom.  Six  months  later,  in  the 
early  days  of  January,  1266,  he  was  solemnly  crowned 
sovereign  of  Sicily  in  St.  Peter's.  Thus,  for  the  first 
time,  one  who  was  neither  an  Emperor  nor  a  Pope 
celebrated  his  coronation  on  that  hallowed  spot. 
But  nothing  could  induce  Clement  to  perform  the 
ceremony  in  person,  though  he  enlisted  the  peoples 
of  Christendom  against  the  hated  Manfred,  and 
begged  for  funds  all  over  Europe  with  indifferent 
success.  He  was  even  reduced  to  mortgaging  the 
property  of  the  Church  in  Rome  as  security  for  a 
war  loan,  and  his  letters  were  full  of  lamentations 
over  the  difficulties  of  raising  it.  It  was  an  un- 
dignified position  for  a  Pope,  but  it  was  the  natural 
result  of  the  worldly  ambition  and  desire  for  revenge 
which  actuated  the  authors  of  this  new  Sicilian 
expedition.  Yet,  plunged  as  he  was  in  the  depths 
of  despair,  Clement  declined  to  make  peace  with 
Manfred,  even  when  the  latter  stooped  to  appeal  to 
him.  No  traces  of  Christian  forgiveness  can  be 
found  in  the  correspondence  of  this  unbending  head 
of  the  Church. 

Soon    after   his   coronation   Charles  left  Rome  to 


BATTLE    OF  BF.NF.VRNTO  83 

attack  his  rival.  The  decisive  battle  was  fought 
outside  Benevento,  and  the  treachery  of  Manfred's 
followers  gave  the  victory  to  Charles.^  Seeing  that 
all  was  lost,  Manfred  resolved  to  die  on  the  field. 
For  some  time  it  was  not  known  whether  he  had 
fallen.  But  three  days  later  the  victor  was  able  to 
write  to  the  Pope  that  Manfred's  naked  body  had 
been  found  among  the  slain.  The  French  knights 
laid  each  a  stone  upon  the  grave  where  Charles  had 
had  him  buried  ;  but  the  vengeance  of  the  Church 
would  not  allow  him  to  rest  in  this  honourable  tomb. 
A  bishop,  with  the  Pope's  consent,  ordered  the  body 
to  be  exhumed  and  thrown  down  on  the  bank  of 
the  river  Verde.  Dante  has  commemorated  the 
spot  in  a  line  of  the  Purgatorio,^  and  the  novel  of 
Guerrazzi,  La  hattaglia  di  Benevento^  has  familiarised 
the  conflict  in  which  Manfred  fell  to  thousands  of 
Italian  readers.  Cursed  by  Popes  as  a  heathen  and 
a  murderer,  he  seemed  to  Dante  a  kindly  figure,  and 
the  best  of  his  contemporaries  praised  his  many 
noble  qualities.  The  fate  of  his  family  was  as  sad 
as  his  own  ;  his  young  wife  and  children  all  languished 
in  prison  till  they  died,  and  thus  the  sins  of  his 
grandfather  were  visited  on  Manfred  and  his  race. 
The  Popes  had  attained  their  object  ;  the  tool  of  the 
Papacy  was  King  of  Sicily  ;  the  rule  of  the  Germans 
in  Italy  was  over  for  ever,  and  of  the  hated  race  of 
the  Hohenstaufen  only  the  young  Conradin  remained 

■  To  this  Dante  alludes  in  the  lines  : — 
"  L;i  dove  fu  l)ugiardo 
Ciascun  Pugliese."—  lufcruo,  xxviii.  16. 
-  iii.  127.     See  the  whole  passage. 


84    INNOCEA'T  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE    PAPACY 

alive  and  at  liberty.  Clement  bade  ring  all  the 
bells  of  Perugia,  when  the  news  of  the  victory 
reached  him  there ;  yet  a  generation  later  one  of 
his  successors  was  a  prisoner  in  that  same  Provence, 
whence  he  had  summoned  Charles  to  fight  his  battles 
in  Southern  Italy. 

The  first  result  of  the  victory  was  the  resignation 
of  the  senatorial  office  by  Charles  at  the  request  of 
the  Pope,  who  feared  that   a  king  and  a  conqueror 
might  prove  a  dangerous  and  ambitious  Senator.     But 
the  head  of  the  Church  did  not  find  that  he  thereby 
recovered  authority  over  the   Romans.     In    fact,  at 
this  period  they  had  almost  ceased  to  consider  their 
city  as  in  any  way  subordinate  to  the   Papacy,  and 
Perugia   saw    far   more   of  the    Pope  than    did    the 
Lateran.     A    noble    adventurer,    one    of    the    most 
curious  figures  that  have  played  a  part  in  the  story 
of  mediaeval  Rome,  Don  Enrique,  son  of  the  King  of 
Castile,    was    chosen     Senator     by    the     dominant 
democracy,  in   spite  of  papal  and   aristocratic  oppo- 
sition.    The   new  Senator  had  had  a  strange  career. 
He     had     volunteered     for    the    intended     English 
expedition    against    Sicily    some    years    before,    had 
entered  the  Tunisian  service  and  fought  against  the 
Moors,  and  had  stood  as  a  candidate  for  the  throne 
of  Sardinia.     A  man  with  these  experiences  was  not 
likely  to  be  devoid  of  energy,  and  he  soon  showed 
that  he  meant  to   be  master    in    his   adopted    city. 
Nor  was  the  effect  of  the  victory  of  Benevento  much 
more  satisfactory  to  the  Pope  in  Sicily  than  in  Rome. 
The  Sicilians  found  Charles  a  much  more  grievous 
taskmaster   than    Manfred    had    been  ;    and,   as   the 


DON  ENRIQUE   SENATOR  85 

modern  Sicilians  at  times  lament  the  Bourbons,  so 
their  ancestors  lamented  the  Hohenstaufen.  Mes- 
sengers were  despatched  to  urge  Conradin,  then  a 
lad  of  fourteen,  to  come  and  claim  the  heritage  of 
his  house,  and,  despite  the  entreaties  of  his  friends 
and  relatives,  he  hastened  to  the  land,  where,  like 
so  many  of  his  race,  he  was  to  find  his  doom.  At 
first  the  Pope  refused  to  believe  the  news,  but  before 
long  he  had  undeniable  evidence  of  its  truth.  The 
larger  part  of  Sicily  rose  and  proclaimed  Conradin 
as  king,  and  in  Rome  itself  Don  Enrique  declared 
for  the  boy.  The  Pope  tried  in  vain  to  create  a 
diversion  there,  but  the  Senator  was  too  strong  for 
him.  Conradin's  emissaries  were  received  with 
public  honours  on  the  Capitol,  and — to  the  indig- 
nation of  the  Pope — provided  with  rooms  in  the 
Lateran  ;  most  of  the  chiefs  of  the  opposite  party 
then  in  Rome  were  arrested,  and  the  Vatican 
garrisoned  with  German  troops.  A  solemn  alliance 
between  the  city  and  Conradin  was  proclaimed, 
and  the  Castilian  senator,  as  handy  with  his  pen  as 
with  his  sword,  indited  a  poem  to  the  grandson  of 
Frederick  II.,  inviting  him  to  "take  the  fair  garden 
of  Sicily  and  demand  the  Imperial  C'rown."  Pisa 
and  Siena  entered  into  the  league,  of  which  Don 
Enrique  was  appointed  generalissimo.  No  one 
heeded  the  papal  thunders,  and  Clement  had  the 
mortification  of  seeing  Conradin's  troops  march  j^ast 
his  own  refuge  at  Viterbo  on  their  way  to  Rome. 

The  Romans  received  the  last  of  the  Hohenstaufen 
with  enthusiasm,  and  flowers  and  olive-branches 
strewed  his  path  as  he  crossed  the  Tiber.    The  whole 


86    IXXOCENT  III.  AND    THE    ZENITH   OF    THE   PAPACY 

city  had  been  transformed  into  a  theatre  for  the 
occasion  ;  the  houses  were  hung  with  coloured  cloth, 
and  women  danced  before  him  in  the  streets.  On  the 
Capitol,  on  that  July  day  of  1268,  they  hailed  him  as 
a  future  Emperor,  and  when  he  set  out  to  meet  his  foe 
the  people  accompanied  him  far  out  into  the  Cam- 
pagna.  Sed  qualis  rcdiit  !  Ten  days  later  he  fled 
back  to  the  city  defeated  and  dismayed.  One  defeat, 
and  that  at  first  a  victory,  on  the  fatal  field  of  Taglia- 
cozzo,  some  sixty  miles  to  the  east  of  Rome,^  had 
sufficed  to  overthrow  him,  and  his  gloomy  rival  could 
write  in  biblical  language  to  the  Pope,  pra)'ing  him 
to  "eat  of  thy  son's  venison."  The  poor  boy  ex- 
perienced in  those  ten  days  how  little  popularity 
means,  and  learned  that  the  vanquished  have  i&w 
friends.  The  Capitol  closed  its  doors  on  the  fugitive  ; 
swarms  of  returning  exiles,  belonging  to  the  opposite 
party,  incensed  the  people  against  him.  Conradin, 
who  had  entered  Rome  as  a  future  Emperor,  left  it 
like  an  outlaw.  Without  an  adviser,  without  a  refuge, 
the  lad  reached  the  sea  at  Astura,  near  Xettuno,  the 
same  spot  whither  Cicero,  centuries  before,  had  in 
vain  fled  from  his  foes,  and  put  out  in  a  boat,  in  the 
hope  of  reaching  distant  Pisa,  which  had  always  been 
a  warm  adherent  of  his  cause.  But  one  of  the 
Frangipani,  who  was  lord  of  the  castle  of  Astura, 
hearing  that  he  and  his  little  party  were  fugitives,  had 
them  arrested  and  brought  before  him.  The  Angevin 
admiral,  who  happened   to  be   near   the  harbour,  no 

'         "  La  da  Tagliacozzo, 
Ove  senz'  arme  vinse  il  vecchio  Alardo." 

Inferno,  xxviii.  17 


EXECUTION   OF   CON R  A  DIN  8/ 

sooner  learnt  who  these  fugitives  were,  than  he 
demanded  their  surrender  in  the  name  of  his 
master  ;  a  neighbouring  Cardinal  made  the  same 
demand  in  that  of  the  Pope.  Frangipani,  whom  no 
entreaties  on  the  part  of  Conradin  could  move,  gave 
up  his  prisoners  to  the  admiral.  They  were  taken  to 
Palestrina,  as  was  also  Don  Enrique,  and  there  lodged 
in  the  castle  of  San  Pietro,  while  Charles  of  Anjou, 
now  elected  Senator  for  life  in  Don  Enrique's  room, 
took  possession  of  Rome.  When  he  had  arranged 
affairs  in  the  city  and  rewarded  his  partisans,  he 
devoted  his  attention  to  the  punishment  of  the 
prisoners.  Don  Enrique  was  saved  by  his  near 
relationship — he  was  Charles's  cousin — and  his  Cas- 
tilian  blood  from  a  violent  end  ;  he  was  sent  to 
languish  in  prison  for  over  twenty  years,  though 
kings  begged  for  his  release,  and  then  at  last,  on  the 
request  of  Edward  I.  of  England,  was  allowed  to 
return  and  die  in  his  native  land.  Conradin  would 
have  still  been  a  pretender,  even  in  prison,  and  for 
him  there  was  nothing  but  death  in  store.  On 
October  29,  1268,  this  boy  of  sixteen  was  beheaded 
on  the  Piazza  del  Mercato  at  Naples,  and  a  porphyry 
column,  now  preserved  in  the  adjoining  church  of 
Santa  Croce,  once  marked  the  precise  spot  of  this 
hideous  crime.  Conradin's  death  has  been  laid  at  the 
door  of  Clement  IV.,  who  might  have  prevented  it, 
for  the  lad  had  been  arrested  by  his  vassals  on  his 
territory.  It  is  said  that  when,  a  month  later,  the 
Pope  lay  on  liis  death-bed,  the  vision  of  the  last  of  the 
Hohenstaufen  on  the  scaffold  haunted  his  dreams 
and  darkened  his  end.    He,  and  with  him  the  Papacy, 


88     INNOCENT  III.  AND    THF.    ZENITH   OF    THE    PAPACY 

had  prevailed  over  that  once  mighty  race.  But, 
though  no  avenrer  arose  at  once  from  Conradin's 
ashes,  the  work  of  the  Hohenstaufen  found  others  to 
carry  it  on  in  the  ages  to  come,  and  if  the  German 
monarchs  had  no  longer  authority  in  Italy,  the  Popes 
could  not  claim  that  country  as  all  their  own. 


IV 


THE   HERMIT-POPE   AND   THE    YIRST  JUBILEE 


Charles  of  Anjou  was  now  able  to  govern  Rome 
as  its  Senator  without  interruption  for  the  next  ten 
years  by  means  of  deputies,  whom  he  sent  to  repre- 
sent him  on  the  Capitol.  His  hand  was  heav}^  on  the 
turbulent  spirits  of  the  city,  as  that  of  Brancaleone 
had  been,  the  laws  were  once  more  respected,  and  in 
a  single  year  no  less  than  two  hundred  robbers  were 
sent  to  the  gallows.  A  column,  which  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  entrance-hall  of  the  Palazzo  del  Con- 
servatori  on  the  Capitol,  bore  his  crowned  figure, 
seated  on  a  throne  adorned  with  lions'  heads  and 
clad  in  Roman  garb,  and  coins  with  his  name  and 
titles  of  Senator  and  King  circulated  freel)'.  He  was 
now  the  most  prominent  personage  in  the  whole  of 
Italy.  When  he  visited  the  city  for  the  first  time 
after  his  victory,  he  brought  the  French  monarch, 
Philippe  ]H.,  with  him.  When,  after  three  years' 
vacancy,  the  papal  see  was  at  last  filled  by  the 
election  of  an  obscure  ecclesiastic,  then  a  pilgrim  in  the 
Holy  Land,  under  the  style  of  Gregory  X.,  he  escorted 
the  new  Pope  to  Rome.     The  latter  event  constituted 

a  departure  from  the  practice  of  the  last  two  Popes, 

89 


90       THE   HERMIT-POPE   AND    THE    FIRST  JUBILEE 

neither  of  whom  had  ever  set  foot  in  the  city  during 
their  tenure  of  office,  while  Gregory  X.  was,  in 
addition,  an  Itahan.  Happier  than  his  immediate 
predecessors,  the  new  Pope  had  an  open  field  before 
him,  and  no  barbarous  policy  of  extermination  to 
continue,  for  the  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Papacy  had 
been  destroyed  root  and  branch.  The  States  of  the 
Church  had  been  restored  ;  Sicily  was  once  more  a 
papal  fief  under  the  Angevin  dynasty  ;  and  there  was 
no  German  sovereign  during  the  long  interregnum  in 
that  country  to  dispute  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See.  Even  when  the  interregnum  ended  with  the 
election  of  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  to  the  German 
throne,  the  changed  relations  between  Empire  and 
Papacy  were  clearly  indicated  in  the  humble  tone  of 
the  letter  in  which  the  new  sovereign  begged  the 
Pope  to  grant  him  of  his  grace  the  Imperial  diadem. 
He  formally  renounced  the  old  Imperial  claims  to  the 
Patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  acknowledged  the  existing 
state  of  things  in  Sicily,  and  was  ready  to  make  any 
concessions  that  the  Holy  Father  might  require. 
Gregory  remarked  in  reply  that  it  was  "  the  duty 
of  Emperors  and  kings  to  protect  the  liberties  and 
rights  of  the  Church,  and  the  duty  of  the  Church  to 
maintain  kings  in  the  full  integrity  of  their  power." 
At  Lausanne  a  friendly  meeting  between  Rudolph 
and  the  Pope  took  place,  and  nothing  but  death 
prevented  the  latter  from  crowning  the  former  as 
Emperor  in  Rome.  But  before  he  died,  this  admirable 
and  able  Pontiff  had  regulated  for  the  first  time,  at 
a  Council  at  Lyons,  the  full  formalities  of  a  papal 
election.     It  was  there  decreed,  that,  after  the  death 


PROCEDURE    OF  PAPAL    ELECTIONS  9 1 

of  a  Pope,  the  Cardinals  should  wait  only  ten  days 
before  proceeding  to  choose  his  successor.  Each  was 
then  to  appear  with  a  single  servant  in  the  dead  man's 
palace,  where  they  were  all  to  occupy  the  same 
apartment,  the  windows  and  doors  of  which  were  to 
be  walled  up,  with  the  exception  of  one  aperture  for 
the  passage  of  food.  Should  the  new  Pope  not  be 
chosen  within  three  days,  the  Cardinals'  diet  was  to  be 
limited  during  the  following  five  to  two  dishes  each  a 
day,  and  after  that  period  to  wine,  bread  and  water 
alone.  All  intercourse  with  the  outer  world  was 
strictl}'  prohibited,  under  pain  of  excommunication, 
and  the  civil  authorities  were  entrusted  with  the 
guardianship  of  the  closed  room  in  which  the 
Cardinals  sat.  This  memorable  decree,  the  result 
of  the  long  vacancy  which  had  preceded  Gregory's 
election,  seemed  so  intolerable  to  the  Cardinals,  that 
it  was  soon  suspended,  but  none  the  less  speedily 
renewed.  The  general  principle,  which  underlies  it, 
still  remains,  and  the  object,  that  of  obtaining  an 
unbiassed  election,  is  a  good  one.  But  there  has  been 
little  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  much  of  part)'  intrigue  in 
most  conclaves,  and  the  inmates  of  the  walled-up 
chamber  have  not  been  found  inaccessible  to  those 
arguments  which  diplomacy  knows  how  to  use  in  the 
worldly  interests  of  sovereigns.  Gregory's  decree  was 
soon  put  to  the  test,  for  three  Popes  followed  one 
another  in  the  year  of  his  death,  one  of  whom  was 
remarkable  as  the  only  Portuguese  who  has  held  that 
office,  and  on  all  three  occasions  Charles  of  Anjou 
endeavoured  to  influence  the  concla\"c  in  favour  of  his 
own  candidate. 


92       THE    HERMIT-POPE   .-LVD    THE   FIRST  JUBILEE 

The  short  pontificate  of  Nicholas  III.,  a  member 
of  the  proud  house  of  Orsini,  "  son  of  the  She-bear," 
as  Dante  has  called  him,i  followed  those  three  fleeting 
figures,  and  was  more  important  in  the  history 
of  Rome.  It  marked  the  cession  of  the  Romagna 
by  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg  to  the  Church,  and  hence- 
forth the  stubborn  folk  of  that  region,  always  the  most 
turbulent  of  Italy,  were  constantly  rising  against  the 
papal  rule,  until  at  last  in  the  nineteenth  century 
they  finally  cast  it  off.  It  marked  too  a  change  in 
the  senatorial  constitution  of  Rome  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  nobles.  On  the  expiration  of  Charles 
of  Anjou's  term  as  Senator,  the  Pope  declined  to  aid 
him  in  obtaining  its  renewal,  and,  as  a  native  of  Rome, 
who  dearly  loved  his  birthplace, resolved  to  prevent  the 
office  falling  again  into  the  hands  of  a  foreign  prince. 
In  1278  he  issued  a  new  charter,  in  which  he  derived 
the  authority  of  the  Popes  in  Rome  from  the  donation 
of  Constantine,  and  pointed  out  the  evils  due  to  the 
election  of  a  stranger  as  Senator.  Accordingly,  he 
ordained  that  henceforth  no  Emperor,  king,  prince, 
margrave,  duke  or  baron,  or  any  powerful  noble  related 
to  any  of  those  dignitaries,  should  be  Senator,  Captain 
of  the  people,  Patricins,  or  rector,  or  official  of  the 
city,  nor  that  any  one  should  be  appointed  to  any 
such  office  for  more  than  a  year  without  the  Pope's 
consent,  on  pain  of  excommunication  alike  for  the 
electors  and  the  elected.  An  exception  was  made 
in  favour  of  the  citizens,  who  were  eligible  for  the 
senatorial  office  for  a  year  or  less,  even  if  they  were 
relatives  of  the  excluded  persons  above  named.     The 

'  Inferno,  xix.  72. 


RESTRICTIONS    OX    THE   SENATOR  93 

result  was  that  the  noblest  Roman  families,  such  as  the 
Orsini,  the  Colonna,  the  Anibaldi,  and  the  Savelli,  en- 
deavoured to  gain  the  position  from  which  foreigners 
were  debarred,  and  the  greatest  security  against  a 
despotic  government  was  their  mutual  jealousy.  The 
Pope  at  once  set  an  example  of  what  was  to  follow  by 
naming  his  own  brother  as  Senator  for  a  year,  and  thus 
not  only  prevented  the  re-election  of  Charles  of  Anjou, 
but  regained  for  the  Papacy  the  power  which  it  had 
lost  over  the  city.  And  it  is  to  his  credit  that  he 
accomplished  all  his  aims  by  peaceful  means.  Yet 
the  charge  of  nepotism,  which  history  cannot  fail  to 
bring  against  man}'  of  his  successors,  has  been  fully 
proved  against  him,  and  Dante  placed  him  as  an 
example  of  simony  in  his  Inferno}  He  rebuilt  the 
Lateran  and  Vatican  with  the  money  of  the  Church, 
and  his  selfishness  contrasted  greatly  with  the  dis- 
interestedness of  his  successor,  who  mounted  the 
papal  throne  under  the  name  of  Martin   IV. 

Martin,  a  Frenchman,  and  a  creature  of  Charles  of 
Anjou,  endeavoured  to  undo  the  work  of  his  prede- 
cessor by  placing  the  office  of  Senator  at  his  patron's 
disposal.  But  in  order  to  avoid  the  re-appointment 
of  Charles,  the  Romans  sent  two  of  their  number  to 
offer  the  post  to  Martin  himself,  not  as  Pope  but  for 
the  term  of  his  natural  life,  with  the  permission  to 
name  a  deputy  or  deputies  in  his  place.  The  Pope 
accepted  the  offer  with  apparent  indifference,  and 
then  transferred  his  new  powers  as  Senator  to 
Charles,   who  appointed   deputies    of  his    own    from 

'  In  the  passage  above  quoted. 


94       THE   HFRMIT-POPF.    AND    THE   FIRST  JUBILEE 

among  his  fellow-countrymen.  The  Angevin  prince's 
influence  in  the  States  of  the  Church  became  pre- 
dominant; he  protected  the  Pope  with  French  troops; 
and,  under  his  auspices,  Frenchmen  held  the  principal 


SAX    GIOVAXXI    DE(,LI    EKEMITI,    PALERMO, 

THE   BELLS   OF   WHICH    GAVE   THE   SIGXAL   FOR   THE   SICILIAX 

VESPERS. 

{From  a  plioto.  by  il/rs.  Miller.) 


offices  there  as  well  as  in  his  own  kingdom  of  Sicil)% 
But  one  of  the  most  tragic  events  in  Italian  history 
shattered  his  career  in  a  moment.  The  Sicilian 
Vespers  were   the   vengeance  for   the   execution    of 


DEATH   OF   CHARLES    OF  ANJOU  95 

Conradin,  and  the  complete  annihilation  of  the 
French  power  in  Sicily  at  a  signal  from  Palermo 
placed  the  island  in  the  hands  of  Peter  of  Aragon. 
The  revolution  found  its  echo  on  the  mainland  ;  for 
it  is  a  curious  fact  that  then,  as  in  the  struggle  of 
1848,  Sicily  led  the  way;  at  Perugia  the  mob  burnt 
the  French  Pope  in  effigy,  at  Rome  the  Capitol  was 
stormed  and  the  French  garrison  cut  to  pieces,  the 
senatorial  authority  of  Charles  was  declared  at  an 
end,  and  a  Captain  of  the  people  appointed.  The 
constitution  drawn  up  by  the  late  Pope  was  restored, 
and  in  1285  the  two  allies,  Martin  IV.  and  Charles 
of  Anjou  passed  away. 

The  Roman  Church  was  now  once  more  free  from 
French  influence,  and  Rome  and  Sicily  were  delivered 
from  the  power  of  the  man  who  had  been  such  a 
sinister  figure  in  their  history.  The  new  Pope, 
Honorius  IV.,  a  Roman  by  birth,  received  the  post 
of  Senator  for  life  ;  and,  following  the  example  so 
lately  set,  appointed  his  brother  as  his  deputy.  Both 
were  gouty  and  unable  to  walk ;  the  Pope  required  a 
mechanical  contrivance  to  enable  him  to  raise  the 
host  when  celebrating  mass  ;  the  Senator  had  to  be 
carried  about  the  Capitol  in  a  chair.  But  Rome  was 
rarely  so  quiet  as  under  their  rule,  and  the  robbers 
learnt  to  fear,  and  the  citizens  to  respect,  them.  Even 
the  rebellious  Romagna  was  for  once  obedient,  and 
Honorius  left  a  peaceful  heritage  to  his  successor, 
Nicholas  IV.,  the  first  Franciscan  who  ever  attained 
to  the  papal  throne.  But  the  powerful  family  of  the 
Colonna  soon  overshadowed  this  pious  monk,  and  a 
caricature  of  the   period  depicted  him  built  up  in   a 


g6       THE   HERMIT-POPE   AND    THE   FIRST  JUBILEE 

column — the  emblem  of  the  Colonna  family — with 
only  his  head  and  mitre  projecting,  while  two  other 
pillars  of  the  Church  rose  on  either  side  of  him.  On 
his  demise  the  rivalry  between  the  Colonna  and  the 
Orsini  split  the  conclave  into  two  factions,  and 
rendered  the  choice  of  a  Pope  almost  impossible. 
Confusion  reigned  once  more  in  the  city;  the  Lateran 
had  no  Pope,  and  the  Capitol  no  Senator.  At  last, 
an  extraordinary  selection  was  made.  One  of  the 
Cardinals  proposed  as  candidate  a  hermit,  who  had 
gained  a  reputation  as  a  dreamer  of  dreams  and  had 
about  as  much  fitness  for  the  position  as  a  professor 
for  that  of  Prime  Minister. 

This  weird  figure,  who  is  known  as  Celestine  V., 
recalls  the  early  days  of  the  Papacy,  when  anchorites 
and  recluses  were  suddenly  called  to  the  direction  of 
the  Church.  The  new  Pope  was  a  peasant's  son  from 
the  Abruzzi,  who  had  taken  up  his  abode  on  a 
mountain  above  Solmona,  known  to  classical  scholars 
as  the  birthplace  of  Ovid.  There,  on  a  spot,  still 
shown  to  the  tourist,  he  founded  a  monastery  and  an 
order  of  monks,  which  later  on  took  his  name.  His 
fame  spread  throughout  Italy,  and  he  is  said  on  one 
occasion  to  have  hung  up  his  cowl  on  a  sunbeam  ! 
When  the  emissaries  of  the  conclave  arrived  to 
announce  to  him  his  election,  they  found  him  in  his 
solitary  hut,  meditating,  no  doubt,  on  anything  rather 
than  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  this  wicked  world. 
At  the  news  of  his  sudden  promotion,  he  tried  to 
escape  and  seek  some  securer  solitude,  where  no  one 
could  compel  him  to  be  a  Pope.  But  prayers  and 
entreaties  prevailed  upon  him  to  accept  the  honours 


ELECTION   OE   CELESTIXE    V.  97 

and  responsibilities  of  an  ofifice  of  which  he  can  have 
had  little  conception.  The  whole  country-side  turned 
out  to  acclaim  him,  and  the  mountain,  usually  so 
gloomy,  became  alive  with  people.  Riding  on  an 
ass,  the  hermit-Pope  entered  Aquila,  while  two  kings 
held  his  bridle,  and  nobles  and  clergy  escorted  the 
quaint  procession.  At  Aquila,  where  a  series  of 
monastic  paintings  still  commemorates  his  career,  he 
received  the  astounded  Cardinals,  who  now  realised 
what  manner  of  man  they  had  chosen.  To  those 
ambitious  men  of  the  world  this  shy,  retiring  hermit, 
without  manners  and  without  oratory,  must  have 
seemed  more  like  a  saint  than  a  statesman,  and  the 
Papacy  in  the  Middle  Ages  had  as  little  need  of  saints 
as  France  during  the  Revolution  had  of  chemists. 
But  the  lots  had  been  cast,  and  so  in  a  neighbouring 
church  the  hermit  was  consecrated.  His  complete 
ignorance  of  the  world  was  at  once  manifest.  He 
knew  hardly  anything  of  Latin,  and — much  worse — 
he  knew  nothing  of  men.  The  crafty  Charles  H.  of 
Naples,  son  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  got  him  to  his 
capital,  used  him  as  a  tool,  and  made  him  sign  what- 
ever he  wanted.  Any  courtier  could  impose  upon 
him,  and  he  felt  miserable  amid  the  pomp  which  he 
was  now  compelled  to  keep  up.  There  is  something 
pathetic  about  his  prayer  for  a  cell  in  the  Royal 
castle  at  Naples  which  should  remind  him  of  his 
beloved  hut  at  Solmona.  In  less  than  four  months 
he  was  weary  of  his  artificial  life,  and  announced  his 
intention  to  abdicate  a  position  which  most  of  his 
fellow-ecclesiastics  would  have  given  anything  to 
obtain.     Wc  need    not  assume  that  the  trick   of  the 

8 


98       THE   HERMIT-POPE   AND    THE    FIRST  JUBILEE 

ambitious  Cardinal,  his  ultimate  successor,  who 
addressed  him  during  the  night-watches  in  super- 
natural tones,  bidding  him  resign,  was  needed  to 
induce  his  resignation.  Though  the  monks  of  his 
own  order,  who  had  hoped  much  from  his  influence, 
protested  against  such  an  act  of  abnegation,  they 
could  not  prevail  over  his  fixed  resolution  to  retire. 
Then  arose  the  legal  question  whether  a  Pope  could 
abdicate  or  no  ;  for  there  were  no  precedents  for  such 
a  course,  and  Celestine  has  found  no  imitators.  A 
Pope,  it  was  argued,  was  infallible,  yet  here  was  a 
Pontiff  who  expressly  desired  to  lay  down  his  office 
on  the  ground  of  his  utter  fallibility.  But  the 
incapacity  of  the  hermit-Pope  for  all  business  and 
the  ambition  of  his  would-be  successors  made  it 
possible  to  dispense  with  strict  formalities.  The 
joyful  anchorite  once  more  assumed  the  hair-shirt 
and  fled  to  his  mountain,  careless  of  the  verdict  of 
his  contemporaries  or  of  history.  His  conduct  has 
been  very  differently  estimated.  Dante  stigmatised 
his  abdication  as  //  gran  rijiiito ;  ^  Petrarch  praised 
him  for  his  humility  in  having  rejected  the  highest  of 
all  dignities.  But  the  ex-Pope  had  not  completed 
his  bitter  experience  of  the  \\orld.  His  successor, 
Boniface  VHI.,  the  very  opposite  of  him  in  every 
respect,  seated  at  his  splendid  coronation  banquet  at 
Rome,  trembled  at  the  spectre  of  the  hermit  of  the 
Abruzzi,  whom  a  popular  movement  might  at  any 
moment  turn  into  a  competitor.  Probably  Boniface 
could  not   understand  a  character  so  different   from 

'   Iiijcnio,  iii.  60. 


ACCESSION   OF  BOX  I  FACE    I'll/.  99 

his  own  ;  at  any  rate,  he  resolved  that  the  possible 
danger  should  be  removed.  Messengers  were  sent  to 
arrest  the  hermit  in  his  retreat ;  but  he  managed  to 
evade  them  and  gained  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic, 
whence  he  hoped  to  escape  to  Dalmatia.  But  the 
stormy  sea  drove  his  little  barque  back  on  the  beach 
at  the  foot  of  Monte  Gargano.  Here  he  quietly  sur- 
rendered to  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  place,  and 
was  by  him  delivered  up  to  Boniface.  Under  the 
guise  of  friendly  treatment,  he  was  put  under  lock 
and  key  in  a  gloomy  castle  on  the  way  from  Rome 
to  Naples,  near  Alatri,  where  he  soon  died.  His 
followers  accused  Boniface  of  his  murder,  and 
exhibited  a  nail,  which  had  been  driven  into  his  head 
by  the  command  of  the  Pope.  Some  years  later  he 
was  canonised,  and  certainly  there  are  few  more 
saintly  figures  in  the  annals  of  the  mediaeval  Papac\'. 
But  his  brief  career  showed  that,  at  that  period  at 
least,  a  very  good  man  might  make  a  very  bad 
Pope. 

No  one  could  accuse  Boniface  VHI.  of  the  former 
defect.  A  diplomatist  and  a  man  of  the  world,  he 
demonstrated  by  the  splendour  of  his  entry  into 
Rome,  that  he  did  not  believe  in  humbling  himself. 
No  sooner  had  he  rid  himself  of  his  dreaded  rival, 
than  he  set  about  the  recovery  of  Sicily  for  the  Holy 
See.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  invoke  a  fratricidal  war 
for  the  achievement  of  this  object,  but  the  indepen- 
dent Sicilians  laughed  at  his  thunders,  and  he  had  to 
give  way.  In  Rome  itself  he  contrived,  by  meddling 
in  the  private  disputes  of  the  Colonna  family,  to 
make  enemies  of  two  of  the  Cardinals  of  that  name. 


TOO        THE   HERMIT-POPE   AND    THE    FIRST  JUBILEE 

The  two  Cardinals  insinuated  that  he  was  not 
the  legitimate  Pope,  and  he  retorted  by  taking  the 
unheard-of  step  of  deposing  them  from  their  offices 
and  then  excommunicating  them.  In  order  to 
appease  the  remaining  members  of  the  College,  who 
resented  this  attack  upon  the  privileges  of  their 
order,  he  permitted  all  Cardinals  henceforth  to  wear 
purple,  just  as  Innocent  IV.  had  granted  them  the 
red  hat.  An  army  of  "  Crusaders "  besieged  the 
castles  of  the  Colonna  at  the  bidding  of  the  Pope, 
who  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  two  great 
enemies  with  halters  round  their  necks  confessing  on 
their  knees  that  he  was  the  true  Vicar  of  Christ.  In 
his  anger,  he  ordered  their  stronghold  of  Palestrina 
to  be  levelled  with  the  ground,  just  as  Sulla  had 
levelled  it  centuries  before,  while  the  terrified  Colonna 
fled  abroad,  lest  a  worse  fate  might  befall  them. 

The  most  remarkable  event  in  the  pontificate  of 
Boniface  VIII.  was  the  celebration,  in  1300,  of  the 
first  Jubilee,  or  aiiiio  santo,  that  was  ever  held  in 
Rome.  The  idea  was  partly  of  Hebrew,  and  partly 
of  classical,  origin.  We  find  in  the  Book  of  Leviticus 
the  command  to  hold  a  Jubilee  every  forty-nine  years. 
The  Roman  Emperors  adopted,  or  revived,  a  similar 
practice,  by  celebrating  at  the  conclusion  of  every 
century  those  "  secular  games "  upon  which  Horace 
wrote  his  beautiful  Carmen  Sceailarc.  The  papal 
Jubilees  were  modelled  on  these  two  precedents,  and 
plenary  indulgences  were  granted  to  all  those  who 
spent  the  Jubilee  at  Rome.  The  traveller  may  still 
see  in  the  basilica  of  San  Giovanni  in  Laterano  the 
remains  of  a  fresco,  depicting  Boniface,  between  two 


102        IHI:    HERMIT-POPE    AND    THE    EIRST  JUBILEE 

Cardinals,  f)roclaimin^  this  first  "  tloly  Year."  A  ready 
response  was  made  to  his  invitation.  "  From  the 
remote  kingdom  of  l^ritain,"  writes  Gibbon,  "the  high- 
ways were  thronged  with  a  swarm  of  pilgrims  who 
sought  to  expiate  their  sins  in  a  journey."  A  con- 
temporar}'  writer  stated  that  no  fewer  than  two  million 
visited  Rome  in  that  }'ear,  and  the  cit}'  never  had  less 
than  two  hundred  thousand  strangers  in  it  while  the 
Jubilee  lasted.  Among  them  was  Dante,  then  one 
of  the  Florentine  envoys  to  the  Pope,  who  alludes  to 
this  Jubilee  in  the  Iiifcmo,^  and  mentions  the  crowds 
which  traversed  the  bridge  of  Sant'  xAngelo  in  both 
directions.  "  Two  priests  stood  night  and  day  with 
rakes  in  their  hands  to  collect  the  heaps  of  gold  and 
silver  that  were  poured  on  the  altar  of  St.  Paul;"  and 
Boniface,  "dressed  in  imperial  habits,"  had  "two 
swords  borne  before  him,  emblems  of  his  temporal 
as  well  as  spiritual  dominion  over  the  earth."  So 
great  were  the  crowds  in  the  streets  that  many  were 
trampled  to  death,  while  the  charges  at  the  inns  were 
too  high  for  all  but  the  rich.  Fven  princes  came  in 
obedience  to  Boniface's  Bull,  and  visited  the  two  speci- 
fied shrines  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  fifteen  times  on 
fifteen  different  days,  as  the  Pope  had  commanded 
foreigners  to  do.  As  for  the  Romans,  they  were 
expected  to  perform  a  double  penance,  as  they  had 
no  long  journey  to  make.  Boniface  had  announced 
that  the  "  Holy  Year "  would  be  held  only  once  a 
century,  but  the  Romans  found  the  festival  so  popular 
and    so    profitable    that    later    Popes    reduced    the 

'  xviii.  28-1-;. 


ARROGANCR    OF  BONIFACE    ]///.  IO3 

intervals  between  the  celebrations.  We  shall  have 
occasion  to  mention  several  more  of  these  Jubilees 
in  due  place.  Altogether,  down  to  the  present  time, 
there  have  been  no  less  than  twenty-one  of  them,  the 
last  having  been  held  by  Leo  XIII.  in  1 899-1900, 
after  an   interval   of  seventy-five  )-ears. 

The  (1)1)10  sa)ito  marked  the  zenith  of  Boniface's 
career.  The  Jubilee  had  been  a  triumi)h  for  him, 
but  his  fortunes  turned  with  the  centur)',  and  from 
that  moment  steadil}'  declined.  He  seems  to  have 
completely  lost  his  head,  and  in  his  overweening 
pride,  imagined  that  he  could  coerce  great  sovereigns 
as  easily  as  he  had  suppressed  poor  Celestine  and 
vanquished  the  Colonna.  When  the  German  envo)^s 
came  to  ask  him  to  confirm  the  title  of  Albert  of 
Austria,  he  received  them  seated  on  a  throne,  with  a 
crown  on  his  head  and  a  sword  in  his  hand,  and  cried 
to  them  with  anger,  'Tt  is  I,  I  who  am  the  Emperor!" 
But  in  Philippe  IV.  of  France,  the  real  founder  of 
the  French  monarchy,  he  met  one,  who  was  more 
than  his  match.  Hitherto  France  had  been  the  chief 
friend  of  the  Papac}'  ;  it  was  with  French  aid  that 
Boniface's  predecessors  had  uprooted  the  power  of 
the  Hohenstaufen  in  Ital}',  and  that  Pope  had  him- 
self lately  summoned  the  French  king's  brother  to  his 
assistance  against  Sicil}-,  and  raised  his  grandfather 
Louis  IX,  to  the  dignity  of  a  saint.  The  famous 
Bull  Clericis  Laicos  was  the  cause  of  this  dispute, 
which  affected  the  history  of  England  as  well  as  that 
of  France.  By  this  memorable  instrument  the  Pope 
forbade  the  clergy  to  pay  taxes  to  the  secular  power 
without  his  consent,  and  thus  struck  a  blow  at  the 


I04        yV/A'    HERMIT- POPE    AND    THE    FIRST  JUBILEE 

monarch}'  where  it  would  feel  it  most  deeply.  Most 
great  political  movements  have  arisen  from  questions 
of  taxation,  and  it  was  so  here.  In  England 
Edward  I.  at  once  outlawed  the  clergy,  who  refused 
him  supplies;  in  France  Philippe  IV.  retaliated  b}- 
forbidding  the  export  of  mone}'  out  of  the  country, 
and  so  deprived  Rome  of  one  of  its  chief  sources  of 
revenue.  Boniface  retorted  that  the  Pope  was  above 
all  kings  and  kingdoms,  and  invited  the  French 
clerg)'  to  a  Council  in  Rome,  there  to  pronounce 
judgment  on  the  French  monarch.  This  message 
was  received  with  indignation  in  France,  where  it 
was  said  that  Boniface  arrogated  to  himself  the 
suzerainty  over  the  country.  The  papal  Bull  was 
publicly  burned  in  Notre-Dame,  and  the  flames 
lighted  a  conflagration  which  threatened  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Papacy  itself  Even  the  French  clerg}- 
took  the  side  of  their  king,  and  the  whole  nation  was 
ready  to  support  him.  Boniface,  in  a  new  Bull,  laid 
down  the  amazing  thesis,  that  "  by  reason  of  the 
necessity  of  salvation,  ever}'  human  creature  is  in 
subjection  to  the  Pope,"  to  which  the  first  complete 
Parliament  of  Catholic  France  replied  b}'  appealing 
from  the  Pope  to  a  General  Council.  But  the 
French  King  put  not  his  faith  in  legal  measures 
alone  ;  he  conceived  the  bold  idea  of  kidnapping 
Boniface  in  his  country  residence  at  his  native  town 
of  Anagni  and  dragging  him  before  a  council  b}' 
force.  The  plot  was  carefully  arranged  ;  emissaries, 
well  provided  with  money,  were  sent  to  Italy,  and 
the  barons  of  the  countr}'  round  Rome,  infuriated  at 
the  grants  of  the  Pope  to  members  of  his  own  family, 


BONIFACE    AT  ANAGNf  IO5 

readily  listened  to  the  scheme.  On  a  September 
morning  in  1303,  the  noise  of  weapons  aroused  the 
unsuspecting  Pope  in  his  palace,  which  was  guarded 
b)-  his  nephews.  While  they  kept  the  enemy  at  bay, 
he  had  time  to  rise  and  tried  to  parley  with  the 
assailants.  But  they  soon  forced  the  defenders  to 
yield,  and  penetrated  into  the  burning  palace,  whence 
all  but  the  Pope  and  two  Cardinals  had  fled.  Boni- 
face awaited  their  arrival  and  his  death  seated  on  his 
throne  and  bent  over  a  golden  crucifix — a  great  Pope 
to  the  last.  "  If  I  am  betraj^ed  like  Christ,"  he  said, 
"  I  am  ready  to  die  like  Christ."  P^or  a  moment  they 
were  struck  dumb  at  his  courage  ;  then  they  gave 
wa}'  to  violence  and  abuse.  One  of  them  seized  him 
b}'  the  arm,  dragged  him  from  his  throne,  and  was 
onl}'  prevented  by  a  companion  from  stabbing  him 
to  the  heart  in  revenge  for  a  private  wrong.  Boni- 
face's coolness  at  length  triumphed  over  the  rage 
of  his  foes  ;  he  was  imprisoned  in  his  palace,  and 
at  last,  after  three  days'  confinement,  rescued  b}-  the 
townsfolk.!  Rome  sent  an  escort  to  bring  him  safely 
to  the  Vatican,  where  he  shut  himself  up  like  a 
prisoner,  a  prey  to  fur}',  mistrust,  and  disgust,  without 
a  friend,  without  a  hope.  The  prophecy  of  the  poor 
hermit  whom  he  had  incarcerated  in  that  solitary 
tower  now  came  true.  "  Boniface,"  he  had  said, 
"shall  come  in  like  a  fox,  reign  like  a  lion,  and  die 
like  a  dog."  lie  refused  all  nourishment,  dashed  his 
head  against  the  walls  in  accesses  of  passion,  and, 
a    month    after   his    release    from   Anagni,   was    one 

'  To  this  Dfinte  alludes  in  Piirgaforio,  .\x.  85-90. 


I06        Til  p.    HF-h' MIT- POPE    AXD    TUP    PIP  ST    I  UP  I  PER 

morning  found  dead  in  his  bed.  His  enemies,  and 
the}'  were  many,  saw  in  his  end  a  judgment  of 
Heaven.  One  of  his  contemporaries  has  branded 
him  as  "  a  magnanimous  sinner,"  and  even  Dante,  his 
bitter  enemy,  who  had  stood  before  him  as  a  Floren- 
tine envoy  in  the  days  of  his  might,  has  called  him 
"  the  great  priest."  He  was  great  in  his  pretensions, 
great  too  in  his  avarice  ;  but  in  all  the  virtues  that 
should  adorn  the  head  of  a  Church,  he  was  deficient, 
and  even  in  his  diplomacy  he  overreached  himself 
and  injured  the  temporal  interests  of  that  bod\\  In 
the  cr}'pt  of  the  Vatican  there  still  lies  his  kingl)- 
figure  on  a  monument,  which  has  been  called  "  the 
memorial  of  the  mediseval  Papacy,"  so  soon  to  enter 
upon  the  humiliating  episode  of  the  captivity  at 
Avignon. 

The  short  reign  of  his  successor,  Benedict  XL,  was 
a  period  of  transition.  The  new  Pope  had  been  one 
of  the  two  Cardinals,  who  had  stood  b}-  Boniface  at 
Anagni,  and  he  summoned  all  who  had  taken  part  in 
that  outrage  to  appear  and  answer  for  their  conduct 
before  his  tribunal.  But  he  had  no  power  to  enforce 
his  summons.  The  King  of  P'rance,  who  was  the 
author  of  the  attack,  was  too  powerful  to  care  what 
he  said,  and  the  German  Empire  too  weak  to  furnish 
aid  against  so  great  a  monarch.  So  Benedict  made 
the  best  of  a  bad  position,  and  formal!}'  withdrew  the 
Bulls  which  his  predecessor  had  issued  against 
France.  Then,  in  fear  and  trembling,  he  withdrew 
to  Perugia,  and  died,  poisoned,  it  is  said,  in  a  basket 
of  figs.  For  nearly  a  year,  the  Cardinals  could  not 
agree  in  the  choice  of  a  successor,  and  the  French 


ELECT ia\    OF   CI.EMEMT    \\  IO7 

and  Italian  factions  in  the  Conclave  struggled  for  the 
mastery,  while  Rome  and  the  Campagna  were  dis- 
tracted by  the  rival  families  of  Colonna,  Orsini,  and 
Gaetani.  Supported  and  prompted  by  the  King  of 
France,  who  was  most  anxious  to  have  a  fellow- 
countryman  and  a  docile  puppet  as  Pope,  the  French 
party  won  the  day,  and  raised  a  Frenchman  to  the 
Holy  See.  The  result  of  this  fatal  election  was  at 
once  evident.  Instead  of  coming  to  Rome,  the  new 
Pope,  who  stx'led  himself  Clement  V.,  bade  his 
electors  meet  him  in  P'rance,  where  he  was  crowned 
at  Lyons  in  the  presence  of  his  patron  the  king.  An 
untoward  incident  at  the  coronation  was  cited  b}-  the 
superstitious  as  an  omen,  of  what  was  to  come.  A 
wall  fell  down  as  the  papal  procession  was  passing, 
the  Pope  was  thrown  from  his  horse  and  his  crown 
from  his  head,  and  in  the  fall  the  richest  jewel  which 
adorned  it  was  lost.  The  Papacy  had  indeed  lost 
its  independence,  for  with  Clement  V.  began  the 
sevent)'  }'ears'  sojourn  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon,  the 
"Babylonish  Captivit}-"  of  the  Church. 

Before  entering  on  that  gloomy  period  in  the 
history  of  the  deserted  city,  we  may  cast  a  glance 
over  the  state  of  Roman  culture  during  the  centur}' 
which  had  just  closed.  The  thirteenth  century  was 
memorable  in  the  annals  of  poetry,  philosophy,  and 
jurisprudence,  but  Rome  cannot  claim  the  greatest 
names  among  the  poets,  philosophers,  and  jurists  of 
that  age.  Most  of  the  Popes  whose  reigns  fell  within 
the  limits  of  that  century  were  learned,  for  a  know- 
ledge of  law  was  in  those  days  almost  essential  in 
one  who  had  to  conduct  delicate  diplomatic  questions 


I08        THE    HF.RMIT-POPE    AND    THE   FIRST  JUBILEE 

and  base  his  claims  to  authority  on  ancient  docu- 
ments. Men  Hkc  Innocent  III.,  Gregory  IX.,  and 
Boniface  VIII.,  to  take  a  few  examples,  were  able 
lawyers,  and  the  first  of  the  trio,  as  we  have  seen, 
demonstrated  the  difference,  which  usually  exists 
between  precept  and  practice,  by  writing  a  treatise 
"  On  the  Contempt  of  the  World  "  as  an  introduction 
to  his  very  mundane  career.  But  these  eminent  men 
did  not  derive  their  learning  from  any  studies  at 
Rome,  which  was  behind  many  other  towns  in  that 
respect.  The  young  Romans  of  the  period  who 
desired  to  attend  lectures  on  law,  usually  went  to 
Bologna,  that  famous  University,  which  has  in  our 
own  time  celebrated  the  eight  hundredth  anniversary 
of  its  foundation.  Padua,  Naples,  and  Paris  were  also 
favourite  seats  of  learning,  but  the  Popes  were  for 
a  long  time  afraid  to  encourage  the  creation  of  a 
Roman  Universit}-,  for  a  large  concourse  of  students 
was  then,  as  now,  a  source  of  alarm  and  annoyance  to 
Italian  rulers.  At  last,  however.  Innocent  IV.  started 
the  first  law  school  at  Rome  in  1243,  in  order  to 
spare  the  citizens  the  expense  of  sending  their  sons 
abroad.  It  was  Charles  of  Anjou,  who,  in  gratitude 
for  his  election  as  Senator  in  1265,  ordered  the  foun- 
dation of  a  Roman  University,  but  its  real  founder 
was  Boniface  VIII.  Meanwhile,  Urban  IV.,  the  first 
Pope  who  took  an}-  interest  in  Greek  philosophy,  had 
summoned  Thomas  Aquinas  from  Paris  to  Rome, 
where  the  "  angelic  doctor  "  taught  intermittent!}'  at 
the  papal  court,  until  Charles  of  Anjou  called  him  to 
Naples.  But  philosophy  flourished  in  Rome  as  little 
as  history.     The  best  authorities  for  the  annals  of 


LITERATURE   AND   ART  lOQ 

the  city  during  that  period  were  not  Romans  but 
Enghshmen,  hke  Matthew  Paris,  who  were  in  con- 
stant communication  with  the  capital  of  Christendom. 
The  archives  of  the  Capitol  are  dumb  about  the 
doings  of  the  Senators  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
the  papal  chroniclers  naturally  regarded  with  disfavour 
the  proceedings  of  those  officials.  Nor  was  poetry  a 
plant  congenial  to  the  soil  of  mediaeval  Rome  ;  just 
as  in  "  the  golden  age  "  of  classical  antiquity,  all  the 
best  poets  came  from  the  provinces,  and  in  "  the 
silver  age "  many  authors  were  Spaniards,  so  the 
age  of  Dante  produced  iosv  Roman  bards.  Indeed, 
it  was  said  that  the  Romans  spoke  a  rough  dialect 
as  compared  with  the  language  of  other  Italians  ;  for 
in  Rome  a  debased  Latin  remained  the  ordinary 
vehicle  of  intercourse,  and  those  who  used  it  regarded 
the  Italian  speech  which  had  come  into  use  elsewhere 
as  a  vulgar  idiom,  unworthy  of  the  city  which  had 
listened  to  Cicero  and  read  Caisar. 

The  century  was  more  productive  in  the  domain 
of  art.  Innocent  III.  was  a  liberal  benefactor  of  the 
Roman  Churches ;  he  restored  the  outer  court  of 
St.  Peter's,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  Barbarossa, 
and  enlarged  and  fortified  the  Vatican,  where  the 
Popes  had  begun  to  reside  whenever  disturbances 
made  the  Lateran,  the  official  residence  down  to  the 
"  captivity  "  at  Avignon,  uninhabitable.  Innocent  IV^. 
continued  the  work  of  his  namesake  at  the  Vatican, 
and  Nicholas  III.,  with  the  aid  of  two  famous  Ploren- 
tine  architects,  cleared  the  approaches  to  it,  and  laid 
out  the  gardens,  which  he  surrounded  with  walls  and 
towers  ;  he  may  be  regarded,  in  fact,  as  the  founder 


no        THE    HERMIT-POPE    AND    THE   FIRST  JUBILEE 

of  the  Vatican  in  its  present  form.  The  same  Pope 
restored  the  Lateran  palace,  and  rebuilt  the  Sancta 
Saiictoruin  chapel,  the  only  part  of  the  old  building 
which  survived  the  fire  of  1308  and  exists  to-day,  but 
which  was  at  that  time  the  private  chapel  of  the  Pon- 
tiffs. It  was  this  chapel  which  contained  the  imiage  of 
the  Saviour  "•  not  made  with  hands  "  and  the  famous 
heads  of  the  Apostles.  But  the  successors  of  St. 
Peter  were  no  longer  content  with  the  Lateran  and 
the  Vatican  alone  ;  Honorius  IV.  built  himself  a  new 
abode  on  the  xAventine  ;  Nicholas  IV.  constructed 
another  residence  near  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore  ;  while 
outside,  at  Montefiascone,  Terni,  and  Viterbo,  the 
Popes  erected  countr}'-houses,  the  forerunners  of  the 
now  disused  papal  villa  of  Castel  Gandolfo.  But 
their  zeal  for  building  was  not  wholly  selfish.  It  was 
at  that  period  that  the  Hospital  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  founded  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon 
settlement  in  the  Borgo,  as  well  as  other  and  smaller 
houses  for  the  sick.  To  the  same  century  belongs 
the  oldest  Gothic  church  in  Rome,  that  of  Sta. 
Maria  Sopra  Minerva,  begun  at  the  command  of 
Nicholas  III.  A  new  industry  arose,  too,  and 
became  a  speciality  of  Rome — that  of  the  workers  in 
marble,  chiefly  belonging  to  the  family  of  Cosmas, 
whose  trade  ceased  with  the  removal  of  the  Papacy 
to  Avignon,  after  attaining  its  zenith  under  Boni- 
face VIII.  Painting  made  progress  in  Rome  under 
papal  auspices,  and  Giotto  was  at  work  there  in  the 
last  years  of  the  thirteenth  century.  A  specimen  of 
his  art,  a  fresco  representing  Boniface  VIII.  pro- 
claiming the  Jubilee  of  1300,  ma)-  still  be  seen  in  the 


THE    TO  WERS    OF  ROME  I  I  I 

Lateral!.  Towards  the  close  of  the  centur)',  also, 
a  school  of  workers  in  mosaic  flourished  under  the 
guidance  of  two  Minorite  monks,  examples  of  whose 
work  may  still  be  seen  in  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria 
Maggiore,  and  the  famous  mosaic.  La  Navicella,  now 
in  the  portico  of  St.  Peter's,  dates  from  1298.  But, 
in  spite  of  these  artistic  improvements,  the  external 
appearance  of  the  city  at  the  dawn  of  the  fourteenth 
century  was  a  gloomy  spectacle.  The  streets  were 
so  filthy  that  the  papal  processions  sometimes  could 
not  make  their  way  through  them,  and  the  pavement 
was  like  that  of  modern  Constantinople.  It  was 
regarded  as  quite  an  event  when  a  Pope  ordered  the 
drains  to  be  flushed.  A  forest  of  towers,  in  spite 
of  the  drastic  measures  taken  against  them,  still 
flourished  amid  the  ruins  of  ancient  monuments,  and 
served  as  strongholds  for  robber  nobles.  The  castles 
of  the  Orsini  clan  dominated  the  district  of  the 
Vatican,  and  the  Colonna  held  the  site  of  the  present 
Italian  Chamber  of  Deputies  at  Monte  Citorio.  The 
I'rangipani  were  encamped  on  the  Palatine  and  the 
Ca^lian  ;  and  the  Colosseum,,  which  had  suffered  from 
the  two  earthquakes  of  1231  and  1255,  was  the  seat 
of  their  power.  The  ruined  palaces  of  the  Palatine 
were  in  the  hands  of  their  retainers  or  given  over 
to  monks,  while  the  Aventine  was  the  home  of  the 
Savelli,  and  nothing  but  the  lack  of  water  prevented 
it  from  becoming  a  flourishing  colony  under  the 
auspices  of  that  powerful  Sabine  family.  The 
Quirinal  was  a  favourite  scene  of  faction  fights  at 
that  epoch  ;  for  several  rival  clans  had  settled  on  its 
slopes.      A  memorial  of  their  sway  still  exists  in  the 


112        THE    HERMIT-POPE   AXD    THE   FIRST  JUBILEE 

Torre  delle  Milizie,  the  possession  of  w^hich  was 
accounted  of  the  utmost  importance  and  gave  a  title 
to  its  owners.  That  tower  and  the  remains  of  the 
Torre  dei  Conti,  which  Petrarch  said  had  no  fellow  in 
the  world,  are  the  best  specimens  of  the  baronial 
style  of  thirteenth-century  Rome,  and  commanded 
the  whole  city  at  that  period.  They  dominated  even 
the  proud  Capitol  itself,  the  seat  of  the  Senators, 
whose  residence  was  rebuilt  in  honour  of  the  Jubilee 
of  1300,  and  where  a  living  lion,  just  as  to-day  a 
wolf,  was  preserved  in  a  cage  as  an  emblem  of  the 
Republic.! 

Such  was  the  appearance  presented  by  the  Eternal 
City  in  the  era  which  had  just  closed.  The  modern 
visitor  would  have  had  difficulty  in  recognising  its 
features,  even  with  the  aid  of  the  plan,  the  first  which 
we  possess  of  mediaeval  Rome,  drawn  up  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  A  foot-note  to  that  document, 
evidently  written  by  a  contemporary,  tells  us  that 
Rome  "  lamented  the  daily  destruction  of  its  ruins. 
Like  an  exhausted  old  man,  it  can  scarcely  hold 
itself  upright  on  a  foreign  staff  Its  age  is  honourable 
for  nothing  else  but  the  heaps  of  ancient  stones  and 
the  ruinous  traces  of  the  past.  St.  Benedict  said, 
when  Rome  was  destroyed  by  Totila  :  '  Rome  will 
not  be  uprooted  by  the  nations,  but  \\ill  crumble 
and  moulder  away  under  the  influence  of  weather, 
lightning,  hurricanes,  and    earthquakes.' "  -     Vet  the 

'  We  may  compare  the  maintenance  of  the  bears  in  the  Biireiigyabeii 
at  Bern  as  an  emblem  of  that  city. 

-  The  saint  was  unfair  to  the  Goth,  who,  as  CJibbon  and  Mr.  Ilodgkin 
show,  "destroyed"  only  one-third  of  the  walls. 


OLD   PLAN   OF  ROME 


113 


thirteenth  century  has  left  its  mark  upon  the  city, 
and  we  owe  to  it  some  of  the  characteristic  monu- 
ments of  Rome.  For  if  they  stood  behind  some  of 
their  ItaHan  neighbours  in  culture,  the  Romans  of 
the  period  still  possessed  the  great  traditions  of  their 
ancient  splendour,  and  had  not  yet  lost  the  presence 
of  the  Papacy  in  their  midst. 


V 


ROME   DURING   THE   "  BABYLONISH    CABTIVITY 


The  history  of  Rome  in  the  fourteenth  century 
cannot  fail  to  arouse  the  pity  of  those  who  remember 
her  former  greatness.  While  the  Popes  were  absent 
at  Avignon,  the  capital  of  Christendom  lay  deserted 
and  forlorn.  Florence  became  the  most  prominent 
city  in  Italy,  just  as  Milan  had  been  two  centuries 
earlier,  and  Rome  was  little  more  than  a  name.  Yet 
the  absence  of  the  Popes  was  not  without  its  advan- 
tages. Removed  from  their  influence,  the  citizens 
were  able  to  develop  their  municipal  institutions 
freely,  to  emancipate  themselves  from  the  authority 
of  the  nobles,  and  to  establish  the  predominance  of 
the  municipal  guilds.  But  the  destruction  of  the 
Roman  nobility  had  the  inevitable  result  of  giving 
power  to  demagogues  and  tribunes  of  the  people 
whose  magnificent  declamations  were  not  accom- 
panied by  any  practical  knowledge  of  affairs.  So 
Rome  once  more  fell  into  the  power  of  the  returning 
Popes,  after  a  brief  interlude  of  municipal  freedom 
which  has  gained  immense  notoriety,  but  was  scarcel}' 
more  lasting  than   the  short-lived   Roman   Republic 

of  1849. 

114 


CLEMENT    V.    AT  AVIGNON  II5 

The  anarchy  which  reigned  in  Rome  and  the 
Campagna  in  the  early  years  of  the  century  led  the 
citizens  in  self-defence  to  set  up  a  Government  of 
thirteen  men  with  a  "  Captain  of  the  People  "  and 
a  Senator.  But  Clement  V.  soon  managed  to  obtain 
the  senatorial  power  for  life,  with  the  privilege  of 
appointing  a  deputy  to  represent  him  on  the  Capitol. 
No  one  at  the  time  imagined  that  he  would  never 
return,  and  great  was  the  surprise  of  the  Romans 
when,  in  1308,  he  formally  announced  the  trans- 
ference of  the  Curia  to  Avignon.  That  town,  now 
a  quiet  provincial  place,  chiefly  remarkable  for  the 
strength  of  its  wind,  its  broken  bridge,  and  its  papal 
palace  now  converted  into  barracks,  was  at  that  time 
the  property  of  the  King  of  Naples  in  his  capacity  of 
Count  of  Provence.  The  Pope  was  thus  sheltered  by 
a  monarch,  who  was  a  vassal  of  the  Church,  while 
he  possessed  in  the  neighbourhood  the  County  of 
Venaissin,  which  had  been  ceded  to  the  Holy  See 
in  the  previous  century  by  the  King  of  France. 
Avignon  was  then  a  luxurious  place  of  residence, 
where  all  the  comforts  of  the  age  could  be  obtained. 
The  proximit)'  of  Marseilles,  from  which  there  was 
a  fairly  easy  communication  with  Italy,  was  a  further 
recommendation.  Moreover,  while  the  Pope  was 
thus  settling  in  his  new  abode  on  the  Rhone,  the 
papal  basilica  of  the  Lateran  was  almost  entirely 
destroyed  by  fire,  and  thus  there  was  the  less  induce- 
ment to  return  to  Rome.  We  have  already  alluded 
to  this  unfortunate  conflagration,  which  annihilated 
one  of  the  most  historic  monuments  in  Rome.  The 
citizens  were  deeply  moved   b}'  what  seemed  to  be 


Il6        ROME   DURIXG    THE   ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITV'" 

a  judgment  of  Heaven  ;  processions  traversed  the 
afflicted  city,  private  enmities  were  forgotten,  and 
money  collected  for  the  restoration  of  the  church. 
But  this  Utopian  state  of  things  soon  came  to  an  end. 
The  Colonna  and  Orsini  resumed  their  depredations  ; 
and  Rome,  in  the  absence  of  princes  and  Cardinals, 
was  given  over  to  the  lawless  rule  of  the  native 
aristocracy,  which  the  bishop  who  represented  the 
absent  Pope  at  the  Vatican  was  powerless  to  suppress. 
In  his  despair  at  the  condition  of  the  city,  Clement 
gave  his  support  to  the  Thirteen  against  the  nobles, 
and  thus  recognised  the  Roman  democracy,  which  he 
allowed  to  choose  its  representatives.  As  most  of 
the  Cardinals  were  now  Frenchmen,  like  the  Avignon 
Popes,  they  lost  sympathy  with  the  Roman  nobles, 
and  the  latter  lost  influence  in  the  College. 

An  imperial  coronation  such  as  had  not  been  seen 
for  sixty  years,  relieved  somewhat  unpleasantly  the 
monotony  of  Roman  life  at  this  period.  Henry  VH. 
had  just  ascended  the  German  throne,  and  announced 
his  journey  to  Rome  to  receive  the  imperial  crown, 
which  no  monarch  had  worn  since  the  days  of 
Frederick  H.  But  first  he  placed  upon  his  head  the 
iron  crown  of  Monza,  which  adorned  the  brow  of 
Napoleon  and  was  so  lately  laid  on  the  bier  of 
Umberto  of  Italy.  This  dela\'  gave  an  opportunity 
to  the  factions  in  Rome  to  assert  themselves,  one 
taking  the  part  of  Henry,  the  other  calling  in  the  aid 
of  Robert,  King  of  Naples,  to  prevent  the  coronation 
in  the  cit\-.  In  May,  13 12,  Henry  entered  Rome  in 
full  battle  array,  bringing  a  lion  for  the  Capitol  with 
him,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  palace  of  the 


CORONA  TION    OF  HENR  Y    111.  llj 

Lateran,  while  the  XeapoHtan  forces  held  the 
Vatican.  Once  more  the  old  feud  between  Guelphs 
and  Ghibellines  had  broken  out,  and  Henry  found 
himself  compelled  to  fight  for  the  imperial  diadem, 
which  he  had  been  warmly  invited  to  take  by  the 
very  same  Romans  who  were  now  opposing  him. 
He  captured  the  Capitol  by  assault,  but  failed  in  the 
attempt  to  cut  his  way  through  to  St.  Peter's,  and 
the  churches  of  Aracceli  and  Sta.  Sabina  are  still  full 
of  the  monuments  erected  to  those  of  his  retainers 
who  fell  in  the  fray.  Barricades  rose  everywhere, 
and  Henry  had  reluctantly  to  abandon  the  idea  of 
being  crowned  in  St.  Peter's.  The  Cardinals  who 
had  been  deputed  by  the  Pope  to  perform  the  cere- 
mony, objected  to  any  other  building  than  that 
named  in  their  instructions  ;  the  German  monarch 
appealed  to  the  people,  and  the  people  decided  in 
favour  of  a  coronation  in  the  Lateran.  At  last,  under 
threat  of  death,  the  Cardinals  yielded,  and,  like 
Lothaire  nearly  two  centuries  earlier,  Henry  was 
crowned  there,  amid  the  ruins  which  the  recent  con- 
flagration had  caused.  P"or  the  first  time  the  Pope 
was  absent  from  a  coronation  ceremon)-,  which  thus 
lost  half  its  significance  in  the  eyes  of  contemporaries. 
Nor  were  the  troubles  in  Rome  at  an  end,  though 
Henry  could  now  style  himself  Emperor.  It  was 
found  necessary  to  storm  the  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella, 
which  had  been  turned  into  a  fortress  by  his  oppo- 
nents. Even  then,  the  Neapolitan  troops  remained 
in  possession  of  their  positions ;  and  Henry,  too 
weak  to  turn  them  out,  quitted  the  ungrateful  city, 
which  had  first  invited  and  then  ill-treated  him.     The 


Il8        ROME   DURING    THE  '^  BABVLONISH   CAPTIVITY^ 

dream  of  Dante,  that  Rome  should  once  more 
become  the  capital  of  the  Empire  and  the  seat  of 
the  Emperor,  vanished  into  air  at  his  departure. 
A  sudden  revolution  in  Rome,  which  placed  the 
democracy  in  power  and  gave  it  a  masterful  leader 
in  a  certain  Arlotti,  seemed,  indeed,  at  first  to  be  to 
the  advantage  of  the  Kaiser,  and  a  decree  of  this 
popular  government  urged  him  to  return,  on  con- 
dition that  he  recognised  that  his  sovereignty  arose 
from  the  people  alone.  But  Henry  had  no  intention 
of  making  so  turbulent  a  city  his  residence,  and 
Arlotti  and  his  friends  were  soon  deposed  by  an 
aristocratic  coup  d'etat,  not,  however,  before  they  had 
destroyed  a  number  of  ancient  monuments  in  their 
zeal  against  their  adversaries.  Henry  VI I. 's  end 
was  also  at  hand.  He  had  not  forgiven  the  King  of 
Naples  for  the  part  which  he  had  played  in  the 
recent  troubles,  and  resolved  to  punish  him.  But  he 
was  destined  never  to  reach  his  enemy's  kingdom  ; 
for  near  Siena  he  died,  the  latest  offering  of  the 
German  monarchy  to  the  imperial  idea.  His  sarco- 
phagus may  still  be  seen  in  the  Campo  Santo  at 
Pisa,  but  the  verses  in  which  Dante  has  commemo- 
rated him  are  his  best  epitaph. ^  He  was  but  a 
fleeting  shadow  on  the  stage  of  Roman  history  ;  but 
his  brief  sojourn  in  the  city  proved  once  more  the 
hopelessness  of  tr}'ing  to  revive  in  tangible  form  the 
old  connection  between  Germany  and  Rome. 

No  sooner  was  he  dead  than  Clement  V.  laid 
claim  to  the  imperial  power,  and  named  the  King 
of  Naples  not  only  Senator  of  Rome,  but  imperial 

'   /'tzrad/io,  xvii.  So  ;  xxx.  135. 


STATE   OF  ROME  I  19 

Vicar  of  Italy  during  the  interregnum.  But  the 
Pope  soon  followed  the  late  Emperor  to  the  grave, 
and  the  Conclave  which  met  to  elect  his  successor 
was  divided  between  the  French  and  the  Italian 
party,  the  former  favouring  the  retention  of  the 
papal  see  at  Avignon,  the  latter  desiring  its  removal 
to  Rome.  Wild  scenes  disgraced  an  election  which 
was  supposed  to  be  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit  alone.. 
The  relatives  of  the  late  Pope  assailed  the  pious 
assembly  with  a  band  of  Gascons,  and  set  fire  to 
the  palace  at  Carpentras,  where  the  Cardinals  were 
quarrelling  ;  the  Italians  only  escaped  death  by 
flight,  and  the  Conclave  was  broken  up.  After  two 
years'  delay  a  new  Conclave  was  summoned,  and 
a  Gascon  elected  under  the  style  of  John  XXII. 
The  prospects  of  a  return  to  Rome  were  seen  to 
be  remote,  and  that  city  fell  more  and  more  into 
deca)^  Armed  bands  prowled  about  the  desolate 
streets,  robber  nobles  occupied  the  deserted  houses 
of  the  Cardinals,  and  the  younger  clergy  were  as 
bad  as  the  nobles.  Poverty  was  universal,  and 
Rome  shrank  to  a  shadow  of  her  former  greatness, 
while  the  absent  Pope,  in  his  ambition  to  claim 
universal  dominion  for  himself,  refused  to  recognise 
Louis  the  Bavarian  in  Germany,  and  so  brought 
fresh  miseries  on  Italy.  Even  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Church  bold  heretics  rose  up  and  preached  that  not 
they  but  the  worldly  Popes  were  the  real  offenders 
against  the  pure  doctrines  of  Christianity,  and  meta- 
physicians split  hairs  in  discussions  over  the  poverty 
of  Our  Lord  and  His  disciples.  The  Papacy  was,  in 
fact,  declining  like  the  city  with  which  it  had  been  so 


I20       ROME   DURING    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY 

long  connected  and  the  seeds  of  the  Reformation  had 
been  ah'eady  sown. 

In  spite  of  papal  opposition,  Louis  the  Bavarian 
entered  Rome  in  1328,  as  his  predecessor  had  done, 
to  take  the  imperial  crown.  More  fortunate  than 
Henry  VII.,  he  was  able  to  reside  in  the  Vatican, 
and  celebrated  his  entry  by  a  Te  Deuui  in  St.  Peter's. 
John  XXII.  in  vain  placed  the  city  under  an  inter- 
dict, for  Louis  had  brought  priests  with  him  to 
perform  the  ordinary  exercises  of  devotion.  When 
the  Pope  refused  to  crown  him  he  summoned  an 
assembly  on  the  Capitol  and  there  accepted  the 
imperial  diadem  from  the  hands  of  the  people.  His 
coronation,  in  spite  of  its  democratic  origin,  was  a 
magnificent  spectacle.  The  crown  was  placed  on  his 
head  by  one  of  those  same  nobles  who  had  burst  into 
the  palace  at  Anagni  to  slay  Boniface  VIII.,  and  two 
schismatic  bishops  anointed  him  with  the  holy  oil  in 
St.  Peter's.  Tiie  triumph  of  the  Roman  democracy 
was  as  complete  as  that  of  the  Emperor.  Never 
before,  wrote  a  contemporary  historian,  had  a  Kaiser 
been  crowned  by  any  one  save  the  Pope  or  a  papal 
legate.  John  XXII.  thundered  his  curses  at  the 
head  of  Louis  from  his  safe  retreat  at  Avignon  and 
bade  his  faithful  Romans  drive  the  usurper  out  of 
the  holy  cit\\  The  Minorites,  on  the  side  of  the 
Emperor,  retorted  that  the  Pope  was  a  heretic  who 
had  committed  simony  to  gain  the  tiara,  and  that  he 
had  no  right  to  reside  under  the  protection  of  the 
King  of  France.  But  the  Emperor's  party  was  not 
content  with  remonstrances  alone.  An  assembly 
met   on    the    great    square    in    front   of   St.    Peter's  ; 


LOUIS    THE   BAVARIAN  121 

with  much  pomp  and  circumstance  the  Kaiser  pre- 
sided, and,  when  silence  had  been  obtained,  a 
Franciscan  monk  ascended  the  tribune  and  cried 
aloud,  "  Is  there  any  man  here  who  will  defend  the 
priest  Jacob  of  Cahors,  who  calls  himself  Pope  John 
XXII.?"  As  no  one  replied  to  the  challenge,  a 
German  abbot  read  aloud  an  imperial  decree  which 
proclaimed  the  deposition  of  the  Pope.  The  people 
dragged  a  figure,  stuffed  with  straw  and  supposed  to 
represent  the  deposed  Pontiff,  through  the  streets, 
and  finally  burnt  it,  like  a  heretic,  at  the  stake.  But 
one  protest  was  forthcoming.  Four  days  later,  a 
canon  of  the  Lateran,  one  of  the  proud  family  of 
Colonna,  appeared  in  public  in  the  company  of  four 
masked  men,  read  aloud  the  papal  sentence  of  ex- 
communication and  then  fastened  it  as  a  challenge 
on  the  door  of  one  of  the  churches.  Next  day  came 
the  Kaiser's  reply.  He  held  a  council  in  the  Vatican, 
which  adopted  the  resolution  that  henceforth  every 
Pope  must  reside  in  Rome,  except  for  three  months 
in  the  summer,  and  even  then  leave  of  absence  was 
to  be  granted  to  him  only  with  the  consent  of  the 
citizens  and  on  condition  that  his  summer  residence 
was  not  more  than  two  days'  journey  distant.  This 
resolution  was  followed  by  another  which  sentenced 
John  XXII.  to  death  as  a  heretic  and  a  traitor.  His 
deposition  naturally  necessitated  the  appointment  of 
a  successor,  and  the  choice  of  the  assembh^  of  priests 
and  laymen  which  took  the  place  of  a  Conclave  fell 
upon  a  Minorite  monk  of  Aracoeli,  who  had  once 
been  married,  and  whose  wife,  who  had  deserted  him 
in  his  obscurity,  hastened  to  claim  her  husband  as 


122        ROME   DURING    THE   ''BABYLONISH    CAPTIVITY'" 

soon  as  that  husband  was  a  Pope,     The  citizens,  in 
a  mass  meeting  held  in  front  of  St.  Peter's,  confirmed 
the  selection   of  the  new  Pontiff,  and   the  Emperor 
proclaimed  him  as  Nicholas  V.     The  Romans  might 
well  be  astounded  at  the  two  great  events  which  had 
followed  upon  one  another  in  such  rapid  succession — 
the  coronation  of  an  Emperor  by  the  favour  of  the 
people,  and  the  election  of  a  Pope  by  the  grace  of 
the  Emperor  and    themselves.     The  triumph  of  the 
anti-Pope    and    his    supporters  was,   however,   short- 
lived.    The  King  of  Naples  sent  his  troops  into  the 
Campagna  and  his  galleys  into  the  Tiber  ;  there  was, 
as   usual,  no  money  to   be   had,  and   the   lack  of  it 
increased  the  discontent  which  the  successes  of  the 
Neapolitan  forces  had  caused.     The  Romans  began 
to  abandon  the  Emperor,  and  the  latter  was  forced 
to  flee  with  the  anti-Pope  from  the  ungrateful  city. 
No   sooner   had    he    fled    than    the    whole   structure 
which  he  had  reared  so  rapidly  fell  as  quickly  as  it 
had  arisen.     The  Avignon   Pope's  authority  was  at 
once  restored  by  a  new  assembly  which  annulled  all 
Louis'  acts  and   had   them   burned   by  the  common 
hangman.     The  populace  tore  up  the  bodies  of  dead 
German  warriors  and  hurled  them  into  the  river,  and 
the  entry  of  the   Neapolitan   troops  completed    the 
victory  of  the  reaction.     Louis  retired  to  Germany  ; 
the  anti-Pope  sought  pardon  of  the  legitimate  Pontiff 
and   threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  John  at  Avignon. 
The  Pope  pardoned  him  and  assigned  him  a  pension, 
though  he  kept   him  as  a  prisoner  near  his  person, 
and  thus  ended  the  strange  episode  in  which  Nicholas 
V.  had  played  30  contemptible  a  part. 


PAPAL    WEALTH  1 23 

Rome  had  humbly  acknowledged  the  authority  of 
the  absent  Pope,  but  nevertheless  he  was  unable  to 
check  the  feuds  between  the  Colonna  and  Orsini 
which  continued  to  devastate  the  city.  The  turbulent 
Romagna  rebelled  against  the  papal  yoke  and  the 
"  Flagellants  "  once  more  appeared  on  the  scene  and 
went  on  pilgrimage  to  the  graves  of  the  Apostles. 
These  "  doves,"  as  they  were  now  called  from  the 
white  dove  and  the  olive-branch  which  they  bore  as 
a  badge,  preached  the  gospel  of  peace,  but  found 
little  support  at  Rome  and  soon  abandoned  their 
mission.  The  one  point  on  which  the\'  and  the 
Romans  were  agreed — the  return  of  the  Pope  to  the 
"  widowed  "  city — was  almost  as  distasteful  to  the 
Pontiff  as  to  the  French  king,  whose  prisoner  he 
really  was.  For  Rome  could  not  be  described  as  a 
pleasant  residence  in  the  fourteenth  centur}',  while 
at  Avignon  the  Pope  was  able  to  live  in  the  midst  of 
luxury  and  heap  up  riches  b}'  the  most  scandalous 
abuses.  John,  whom  the  judicious  Hallam  has 
described  as  "the  most  insatiate  of  Pontiffs,"  assumed 
the  rights  of  every  bishopric  in  Christendom.  He 
imposed  the  tax  called  annates,  which  consisted  of 
the  amount  of  one  year's  revenue  from  every  benefice. 
By  such  means  as  these  he  amassed  vast  sums,  and 
died,  it  is  said,  many  times  a  millionaire.  Benedict 
XII.,  who  succeeded  John  XXII.,  was  at  least  an 
upright  man,  but  he  was  not  strong  enough  to  escape 
from  the  bonds  of  France  ;  and,  if  he  had  been,  he 
would  probably  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
brigands  who  infested  the  countr}'  for  miles  round 
Rome.      Some    idea    of  the    appalling    condition    of 


124       ROME   DURIXG    THE   ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY'^ 

Rome  and  the  Campagna  at  that  period  may  be 
formed  from  the  account  which  we  have  of  Petrarch's 
visit  in  1337.  The  poet  found  it  necessary  to  have 
an  escort  of  a  hundred  horsemen  to  conduct  him 
through  the  hostile  bands  of  the  Orsini,  and  one  of 
his  friends  strongly  urged  him  not  to  go  to  see  a 
city  which  could  not  fail  to  disappoint  his  ardent 
expectations  in  its  forlorn  condition.  But  Petrarch 
was  undaunted  by  the  dangers  of  the  journey  and 
the  gloomy  picture  which  his  friend  had  drawn  of 
Rome.  He  blushed,  indeed,  to  find  that  the  Romans, 
like  the  Londoners  of  to-day,  knew  far  less  about 
their  own  city  than  the  foreign  visitors,  and  he  seems 
to  have  anticipated  the  fine  saying  of  Burke  that 
those  who  do  not  look  back  to  their  ancestors  will 
not  look  forward  to  their  descendants.  In  the 
company  of  such  inadequate  ciceroni  as  these  the 
enthusiastic  poet  explored  all  the  monuments  and 
pronounced  the  ruins  to  be  even  finer  than  he  had 
expected.  By  a  curious  coincidence,  at  the  very 
moment  when  Petrarch  was  visiting  the  memorials 
of  Rome's  ancient  greatness,  a  young  man,  then 
unknown,  but  destined  soon  to  be  the  hero  of  the 
city  and  the  subject  of  the  poet's  panegyrics,  was 
groping  among  the  broken  pillars  and  deciphering 
the  crabbed  inscriptions  of  the  classical  period.  Cola 
di  Rienzo  and  Petrarch,  the  future  tribune  and  the 
eminent  author,  were  in  Rome  together.  Such  was 
the  effect  which  the  past  splendours  of  the  city  made 
upon  the  latter  that  he  wrote  to  ]-5enedict  XII.  and 
implored  him  to  restore  the  Holy  See  to  the  one  spot 
which  was  worth}'  of  it  and  of  which  it  was  worthy, 


PETRARCH  POET    LAUREATE  12$ 

even  in  its  desolation.  With  the  same  object  the 
people  appointed  the  Pope  as  their  Senator  for  life, 
but  neither  poet  nor  people  could  prevail  on  him  to 
come.  The  Popes  in  our  own  day  have  been  pleased 
to  pose  as  "  prisoners  of  the  Vatican  "  ;  Benedict  was 
far  more  truly  "  the  prisoner  of  Avignon." 

Petrarch  was  so  enchanted  with  what  he  had  seen 
and  imagined  in  Rome  that  he  could  not  rest  till  he 
had  assumed  the  laurel  crown  of  an  inspired  bard  on 
the  heights  of  the  Capitol.  The  ancient  Romans  had 
begun  the  practice  of  awarding  such  offerings  in  the 
reign  of  Domitian,  and  the  old  custom  had  been 
revived  in  several  Italian  cities.  It  would  have  been 
difficult  to  find  worse  judges  of  literar}'  merit  than 
the  Roman  authorities  of  that  day  ;  but  a  Poet 
Laureate  is  not  necessarily  a  poet,  and  his  appoint- 
ment need  not  be  decided  b}'  literary  tests.  Petrarch 
was,  however,  resolved  that  there  should  not  be  the 
slightest  doubt  about  his  own  eminent  qualifications, 
and  shrewdly  thought  that  there  is  no  such  sure  road 
to  literary  success  as  royal  patronage.  Not  content 
with  the  invitation  of  the  University  of  Paris  and  the 
Senate  of  Rome,  he  submitted  his  poetic  talents  to 
the  criticism  of  the  King  of  Naples,  who,  on  the 
strength  of  some  tedious  essays,  had  obtained  the 
reputation  of  a  great  writer.  Even  at  the  present 
da\',  when  examinations  are  inevitable  for  every 
appointment,  the  idea  of  a  poet  passing  one  of  these 
ordeals  at  the  court  of  a  monarch  cannot  but  seem 
absurd.  But  the  whole  learned  world  looked  on 
with  admiration  or  env)'  at  this  pedantic  trial,  the 
result  of  which  was,  of  course,  a  foregone  conclusion. 


126        ROME    DURING    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY 

The  happy  poet  received  a  royal  diploma  ;  and,  had 
he  been  living  to-day,  would  certainly  have  gained 
additional  circulation  for  his  poetry  from  the  fact 
that  he  was  allowed  to  recite  it  in  a  robe  which 
had  actually  been  worn  by  the  king.  On  Easter 
Sunda)',  1341,  the  ceremony  of  the  coronation  took 
place  on  the  Capitol.  Twelve  pages,  clad  in  scarlet, 
declaimed  the  poet's  verses  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Roman  people  ;  six  citizens,  dressed  in  green,  followed 
with  garlands  of  various  colours,  and  the  Senator 
brought  up  the  rear  with  a  laurel  wreath  on  his  head. 
As  soon  as  he  was  seated  a  herald  bade  the  poet 
approach  ;  and  the  latter,  taking  a  well-worn  Vir- 
gilian  tag  as  his  text,  demonstrated  in  Latin  for  which 
a  modern  schoolboy  would  be  flogged  the  difficulty 
of  poetic,  and  incidentally  that  of  Latin,  composition. 
He  told  his  hearers  that  he  was  not  ambitious  of  the 
laurel  for  himself,  and  the}-  were,  of  course,  aware 
that  he  only  took  it  in  order  to  encourage  others. 
He  emphasised  the  honour  which  he  was  conferring 
upon  Rome  by  taking  the  crown  of  poetry  within 
her  walls  instead  of  at  Paris  or  on  Virgil's  grave  at 
Naples,  and  then  bent  down  to  receive  the  emblem 
of  merit  from  the  hands  of  the  Senator.  In  order  to 
show  his  gratitude,  he  concluded  with  a  sormet  in 
honour  of  the  Romans,  who  acclaimed  him  with 
enthusiasm.  The  poet  then  went  in  the  m'dst  of  a 
procession  to  St.  Peter's  and  hung  his  laurel  wreath 
on  the  altar.  A  splendid  banquet  was  given  in  his 
honour,  and  the  imaginative  guest  amply  repaid  the 
city  for  its  hospitalit}'.  From  that  moment  he  never 
ceased  to  think  of  its  fortunes,  and  even   the  stern 


CO/. A    DI  RIENZO  12/ 

reality  of  his  capture  by  robbers  on  his  journey 
home  did  not  diminish  his  love  for  the  ideal  Rome 
which  he  hoped  to  create.  His  Latin  verses  seem 
poor  enough  to  those  who  have  read  the  classical 
authors  whom  he  slavishly  copied,  but  the  incident 
of  his  coronation  was  not  without  its  effect  upon 
the  future  of  Rome.  If  it  had  done  nothing  else 
than  arouse  to  a  yet  higher  pitch  the  patriotic 
enthusiasm  of  Cola  di  Rienzo,  it  would  not  have 
been  in  vain. 

Benedict  XII.  was  not,  however,  influenced  by 
poetic  ideas,  and  his  erection  of  the  vast  papal  palace 
at  Avignon  was  interpreted  as  a  token  of  the  perma- 
nent transference  of  the  Papacy  from  the  Tiber  to  the 
Rhone.  His  successor,  Clement  VI.,  was  equally 
obdurate,  but  in  one  respect  was  willing  to  grant  the 
wishes  of  the  Roman  depqtation  which  waited  upon 
him.  As  we  have  seen,  the  Jubilee  of  1 300  had  proved 
to  be  an  immense  source  of  profit  to  the  city,  and  the 
Romans  were  anxious  that  so  great  an  attraction 
should  be  renewed  as  soon  as  possible.  They,  there- 
fore, begged  Clement  that,  if  he  could  not  come  to 
Rome  himself,  he  would  at  least  abridge  the  interval 
between  the  last  and  the  next  anno  santo,  and  pro- 
claim 1350  as  a  Year  of  Jubilee.  The  Pope  willingl}- 
consented,  glad  to  be  rid  of  the  deputation  on  such 
easy  terms.  But  another  and  more  interesting  figure 
now  appeared  to  plead  the  cause  of  Rome  at  the 
papal  Court.  We  have  already  mentioned  Nicholas, 
or  Cola,  di  Rienzo,  who  under  the  name  of  Rienzi  has, 
thanks  to  the  romance  of  the  late  Lord  L}'tton  and 
the  verses  of  Byron,  gained  a  world-wide  celebrity. 


128        ROME   DURING    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY^' 

The  son  of  a  publican,  a  certain  Laurentius  or  Rienzo, 
the  future  tribune  was  born  in  or  about  the  year  13 14 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.^  His  mother  ched  when 
he  was  young,  and  after  her  death  he  grew  up  in  the 
cottage  of  a  relative  at  Anagni,  "  a  peasant  among 
peasants,"  as  he  himself  lamented.  When  he  was  in 
his  twentieth  year  he  came  back  to  Rome,  and  there 
devoted  himself  to  study  with  the  utmost  eagerness. 
He  was  his  own  best  master,  and  his  favourite  books 
were  the  monuments  of  his  native  city.  From  them 
and  the  writings  of  Livy,  Cicero,  and  other  rhetorical 
authors  he  learnt  the  past  greatness  of  the  Roman 
people,  and  could  not  help  comparing  it  with  the 
misery  which  surrounded  him  in  his  daily  life. 
"  Where  are  those  good,  old  Romans  ?  "  he  was  wont 
to  say,  and  he  longed  to  have  been  born  a  contem- 
porary of  those  ancient  heroes.  The  common  people 
doubtless  regarded  him  as  a  madman  for  bothering 
himself  about  such  unimportant  matters  as  mouldering 
monuments  and  almost  illegible  inscriptions.  But 
the  young  dreamer  was  well  satisfied  to  imagine 
himself  one  of  those  imposing  Consuls,  whose  names 
and  high-sounding  titles  he  read  on  the  marble  frag- 
ments that  strewed  the  ground,  unheeded  save  by 
himself  He  fancied  that  he,  too,  might  harangue 
Roman  assemblies  and  lead  Roman  armies  ;  and,  in 
his  belief  that  he  was  born  for  a  high  destin}-,  he 
posed  as  the  bastard  son  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VH. 
The  prosaic  necessities  of  existence  compelled  him  to 
adopt  the  profession  of  a  notary  public,  and  it  was  in 

'   But  not  in  the  so-called  "  House  of  Rienzi,"  which  was  built  by 
another  Nicholas,  son  of  Crescentius,  much  earlier. 


cola's  mission  to  .iriG.yo.v  129 

this  capacity  that  he  proceeded  to  Avignon  in  1343, 
armed  with  instructions. from  the  Council  of  Thirteen, 
who  had  recently  come  into  power  as  the  result 
of  a  revolution.  Cola  acquitted  himself  of  this  first 
political  mission  with  much  credit.  Clement  VI., 
who  was  himself  an  eloquent  speaker,  was  delighted 
with  the  orator}'  of  the  Roman  envo}',  whose  pro- 
fessional zeal  for  liberty  was  augmented  by  the 
recent  death  of  a  brother  at  the  hands  of  the  aristo- 
cratic party.  The  Pope  again  promised  that  the 
Jubilee  should  be  held  in  1350,  and  Cola  extolled 
him  above  Scipio,  Caesar,  and  Metellus  ;  called  him 
the  liberator  of  the  city,  and  urged  the  Romans  in 
a  letter  which  was  sure  to  be  read  at  A\-ignon  to 
erect  a  statue  to  their  benefactor.  Nor  did  he  forget 
to  extol  his  own  merits,  calling  himself  "  Roman 
Consul,"  and  appealing  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  dema- 
gogue to  the  passions  of  the  mob  by  posing  as  "  sole 
ambassador  of  the  orphans,  widows,  and  paupers  to 
the  papal  throne."  Clement  found  such  pleasure  in 
his  conversation,  that  he  detained  him  some  time  at 
Avignon,  until  his  attacks  on  the  Roman  nobles  gave 
offence  to  one  of  the  Colonna  family,  ^ho  had  the 
ear  of  the  Pope.  Even  then  the  young  orator  did 
not  forfeit  the  favour  of  Clement,  who  appointed  him 
to  another  notarial  post  with  a  small  salary  and  a 
long  eulogy  of  his  learning  and  merits.  Having  thus 
attained  all  the  objects  of  his  journey.  Cola  returned 
to  Rome  in  1344,  and  at  once  threw  himself  into  the 
congenial  task  of  preparing  a  thorough  revolution 
which  would  sweep  the  nobles  a\va}^  and  herald  in  a 
democratic  era  of  all  the  Republican  virtues. 

10 


130       ROME   DURIXG    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIl'ITv'' 

The  notary's  legal  arguments  before  the  courts 
seem  to  have  had  less  effect  than  the  figures  of 
rhetoric,  in  which  he  indulged  when  haranguing  the 
people.  But  he  soon  adopted  an  even  more  cogent 
method  of  convincing  his  poorer  fellow  citizens  that 
the  Roman  aristocracy  must  be  uprooted.  With  all 
the  genius  of  a  modern  electioneering  agent,  he 
placarded  the  walls  of  the  palace  where  the  Senate 
met  with  a  picture  of  a  sinking  ship,  surrounded  by 
the  wrecks  of  four  other  vessels,  labelled  Babylon, 
Carthage,  Troy,  and  Jerusalem.  A  weeping  widow 
was  depicted  in  the  act  of  prayer,  while  on  two 
islands  an  allegorical  figure  of  Italy  and  four  other 
women,  representing  the  cardinal  virtues,  were  seen 
mourning  in  appropriate  language  the  end  of  Rome. 
On  yet  a  third  island  in  the  raging  sea  a  white-clad 
woman,  Faith,  was  represented  raising  her  hands  to 
Heaven,  and  asking  what  was  to  become  of  her  if 
Rome  perished.  Winged  beasts  and  the  avenging 
figures  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  completed  the 
picture,  which  amazed  the  loafers  who  congregated 
to  gaze  at  it.  But  Cola  was  not  content  with  cartoons 
alone.  He  had  discovered  on  one  of  his  antiquarian 
expeditions  an  ancient  bronze  tablet,  containing  the 
Lex  Regia,  or  decree  of  the  Senate,  which  had  con- 
ferred imperial  power  on  Vespasian.  He  had  this 
tablet  fastened  in  the  wall  of  the  Lateran  and  a 
pictorial  representation  of  the  scene  to  whicii  the 
inscription  referred  placed  around  it.  He  then 
invited  nobles  and  people  to  a  iniblic  lecture  in 
the  basilica.  Clad  in  theatrical  costume,  with  a 
white  toga  hanging  from  his  shoulders  and  a  white 


PREPARING    THE    REl'OLUT/ON  I3I 

hat  covered  with  crowns  and  swords  on  his  head,  the 
orator  bade  his  audience  contrast  the  piteous  con- 
dition of  their  city  with  what  it  had  been  in  the  days 
of  Vespasian.  He  spoke  of  the  past  majesty  of  the 
Roman  people  and  its  present  misery,  and  did  not 
forget  a  telHng  topical  allusion  to  the  approaching 
Jubilee  when  all  men  should  be  at  peace.  Cola  was 
the  talk  of  the  town,  and  even  the  barons  whom  he 
had  attacked  so  bitterly  found  it  amusing  to  listen 
to  his  harangues.  The  nobles  did  not  take  him 
seriously,  and  it  became  the  fashion  in  good  society 
to  ask  him  to  dinner  and  laugh  at  his  threats  of  what 
he  would  do  with  the  aristocrats  if  he  were  Emperor. 
Fresh  allegorical  pictures  appeared  on  the  walls  ; 
plebeians,  kings,  and  a  woman  burning  in  a  fire  ;  an 
angel,  emerging  from  a  church  with  a  drawn  sword  in 
his  hand  to  set  the  woman  free;  the  ine\itable  figures 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  a  dove  with  a  crown  of  myrtle 
in  its  beak — such  were  the  symbols,  which  seemed 
unimportant  at  the  time,  but  were  afterwards  remem- 
bered as  forerunners  of  the  revolution.  More  ominous 
still  was  the  legend  found  fastened  one  morning  on 
the  door  of  San  Giorgio  in  Velabro  :  "  Yet  a  little 
time,  and  the  Romans  shall  return  to  their  good,  old 
constitution."  Still  the  nobles,  like  the  French 
aristocracy  on  the  verge  of  1789,  suspected  no  evil, 
and  regarded  Cola  as  a  madman  and  a  visionar}', 
who,  as  Cicero  once  said  of  Cato,  imagined  that  he 
was  a  citizen  of  an  ideal  Republic,  instead  of  a 
compatriot  of  the  Roman  shoemakers  and  tinkers. 

But  while  the  barons  lulled  themselves  into  a  sense 
of  false  security,  their  enemy  acted.     On  the  desolate 


132       ROMF.    DCRfXG    THF.    ''  BABVLOXIRH    CAPTIVITY'' 

Aventine,  where  once  his  great  prototype,  Caius 
Gracchus  had  fled  and  died,  Cola  held  secret  meetings 
of  citizens  at  which  the  overthrow  of  the  aristocrac)' 
was  planned.  The  ingenious  demagogue  skilfully 
quoted  the  Pope's  confirmation  of  the  previous 
revolution  as  a  proof  of  papal  sympathy,  and  thus 
enlisted  the  authority  of  religion  and  tlie  prestige  of 
the  Papacy  on  his  side.  The  times  were  favourable 
to  the  growth  of  the  revolutionary  spirit.  The  guilds 
had  gained  additional  powers  in  various  Italian  cities, 
and  Florence  had  recenth'  set  the  example  of  a 
democratic  movement  by  which  the  nobles  were 
driven  out  of  office.  Above  all,  discontent,  the  result 
of  bad  government,  was  rampant  in  Rome.  Work- 
men were  robbed  on  the  way  to  their  work  ;  pilgrims 
w^ere  plundered  on  the  way  to  their  devotions  ;  no 
man's  life  or  propert}'  was  safe  either  b}'  da}'  or 
night.  Under  such  circumstances,  it  did  not  need 
much  to  provoke  a  rising.  Cola  accordingU^  resolved 
to  wait  no  longer,  and,  having  secured  the  acquiescence 
of  the  papal  vicar,  he  gave  the  order  for  the  revolution 
during  the  temporar}'  absence  of  the  most  powerful 
barons  and  the  Roman  militia.  On  Ma)'  19,  1347, 
heralds  paraded  the  streets,  summoning  the  people  to 
a  Parliament  on  the  Capitol  as  soon  as  the  bell  should 
sound.  At  midnight  Cola  attended  mass  at  the 
Church  of  Sant'  Angelo  in  Pescheria  with  the  rest 
of  the  conspirators,  and  placed  his  work  under  the 
protection  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Next  day  he  issued 
from  the  church  in  complete  armour,  his  head  alone 
bare,  with  three  great  banners  before  him,  that  of 
freedom,  that  of  justice,  and  that  of  peace  ;  a  fourth, 


COLA    BECOMES    TRIBUNE  1 33 

that  of  St.  George,  was  borne  in  a  box  on  the  point  of 
a  lance.  Accompanied  by  the  papal  vicar,  Cola 
headed  the  procession  to  the  Capitol,  and  there 
delivered  an  oration  in  which  he  declared  himself 
willing  to  offer  up  his  life  for  tlie  sacred  cause  of 
liberty.  One  of  his  followers  then  read  aloud  a 
number  of  decrees  which  the  liberator  had  seen  fit  to 
draw  up,  and  which  the  assembly  of  his  partisans 
accepted  with  enthusiasm.  The  improvised  Parlia- 
ment conferred  upon  Cola  the  powers  of  a  "  Reformer 
and  Preserver  of  the  Republic,"  with  the  right  to 
make  peace  or  war,  impose  punishments,  issue 
decrees,  and  appoint  officials.  In  short,  the  first  act 
of  the  Republican  leader  was  to  get  himself  named 
Dictator,  though  he  had  the  tact  to  associate  the 
papal  vicar  with  him  in  his  new  dignities.  For  the 
moment  his  triumph  was  complete ;  a  bloodless 
revolution  had  been  accomplished,  and  daily 
assemblies  yet  further  extended  his  influence.  As  a 
proof  of  the  popular  origin  of  his  authorit}-,  he 
assumed  the  style  of  Tribune,  and  the  chance  appear- 
ance of  a  white  dove  at  the  moment  of  his  assumption 
of  that  title  gave  him  an  excellent  opportunity  of 
claiming  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  source  of  his  inspira- 
tion. The  publican's  son  now  signed  his  name  in  full 
as  "  Nicholas,  by  the  authority  of  Our  Most  Gracious 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Dreaded  and  Gracious,  the 
Tribune  of  Freedom,  Peace  and  Justice,  and  Fminent 
Liberator  of  the  Holy  Roman  Republic."  This 
pompous  signature,  written  with  the  silver  pen  which 
the  Tribune  always  employed,  was  well  in  keeping 
with  his  character. 


134       ROME   DURING    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY" 

The  revolution  had  taken  the  nobles  by  surprise  ; 
rough,  old  Stephen  Colonna,  the  captain  of  the  city 
militia,  threatened,  indeed,  to  throw  the  Tribune  out 
of  the  windows  of  the  Capitol ;  but  the  alarm  bell 
sounded,  the  people  flew  to  arms,  and  Colonna  had  to 
flee  for  his  life  before  the  man  whom  he  had  derided 
as  an  idiot.  The  next  step  was  the  banishment  of 
the  aristocrats,  the  occupation  of  all  the  castles  and 
bridges  of  the  city  by  the  Tribune's  adherents,  and  a 
strict  administration  of  justice.  As  soon  as  he  felt 
his  power  established,  Cola  summoned  the  nobles  to 
the  Capitol,  where  they  paid  homage  to  the  new 
master  of  Rome.  But  he  was  not  a  parochial  ruler  ; 
to  him  Rome  signified  much  more  than  the  City  on 
the  Seven  Hills,  and  he  lost  no  time  in  despatching  his 
envoys  with  silver  wands  in  their  hands  all  over  Ital}' 
and  as  far  as  the  courts  of  France  and  Germany. 
He  summoned  representatives  of  the  whole  Roman 
province  to  discuss  the  best  means  of  improving  the 
state,  and  urged  the  Italian  towns  to  join  him  in  a 
national  movement  which  should  free  Italy  from  all 
its  oppressors,  and  send  their  deputies  also  to  Rome. 
This  was  the  first  time  that  any  one  had  propounded 
the  idea  of  Rome  as  the  head  of"  an  Italian  Confedera- 
tion. But  in  this  the  Tribune  was  before  his  time,  or 
at  least  he  was  not  the  man  to  carr)'  the  idea  into 
effect.  Nor  had  he  grasped  the  great  truth  that 
national  unification  could  not  be  won  by  speeches 
alone.  Meanwhile,  he  installed  his  new  government 
in  the  Capitol,  confirmed  the  existing  Council  of 
Thirteen,  and  coined  money,  of  which  specimens  are 
still  extant.     A  bodyguard  protected  the  darling  of 


THE    TR I  DUXES    ADMINISTRATION  I  35 

the  people  against  assassination  whenever  he  rode 
through  the  city  in  his  white  silk  robe.  He  was  no 
regarder  of  persons  in  his  administration  of  justice; 
he  sent  a  monk  to  the  scaffold,  beheaded  a  baron,  and 
hanged  an  ex-Senator.  Order  reigned  at  last  in  the 
streets,  and  a  malefactor  was  dragged  out  of  one  of 
the  palaces  where  he  had  taken  refuge.  The  Tribune 
performed  even  the  unenviable  office  of  a  peace- 
maker with  success ;  and,  in  the  true  desire  for 
equality  among  others,  this  lover  of  pompous 
signatures  forbade  the  use  of  titles  of  nobility. 
Even  the  coats  of  arms  which  the  barons  had  carved 
on  their  houses  were  declared  illegal ;  that  was  a  privi- 
lege reserved  for  the  Pope  and  the  popular  assembly 
alone.  The  finances  were  put  in  order  ;  taxes,  which 
weighed  heavily  on  the  people,  were  abolished  :  and 
prices  were  regulated  in  the  interest  of  the  consumers. 
Daunted  by  nothing.  Cola  began  the  work  of  culti- 
vating the  Campagua,  which  has  not  even  yet  been 
completed.  Utopia  seemed  to  have  been  for  once 
realised  on  earth,  and  the  name  and  fame  of  the 
Tribune  went  abroad  unto  the  ends  of  Europe.  His 
old  patron,  the  Pope,  confirmed  him  in  his  office,  and 
deputies  from  other  Italian  towns  to  the  proposed 
National  Parliament  began  to  arrive.  From  every  side 
came  recognition  of  Rome  as  the  centre  of  Italian 
life.  Another  enthusiast  of  the  same  kidney  as  him- 
self, Petrarch,  the  crowned  poet  of  the  Capitol,  greeted 
the  Tribune  as  the  saviour  of  Italy,  and  the  Tribune 
in  reply  invited  the  author  to  come  again  to  Rome 
and  be  his  Poet  Laureate.  Petrarch  sent  an  Ode 
instead,    and    Cola    thus    obtained    the    fame    which 


136       ROME    DURING    THE    '■'BABYLONISH    CAPTIVITY^' 

literary  men  boast  that  they  alone  can  give  to  the 
rulers  of  States. 

Other  and  more  sweeping  measures  followed  the 
practical  reforms  which  the  Tribune  had  inaugurated. 
He  proclaimed  the  resumption  by  the  Roman  people 
of  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  powers,  which  it  had 
at  any  time  bestowed  on  others,  and  thus  committed 
the  blunder  of  leaguing  against  himself  all  threatened 
vested  interests — the  Church,  the  aristocracy,  and  the 
Emperor.  On  the  ist  of  August,  the  day  that  the 
National  Parliament  was  to  meet,  he  assumed  with 
extraordinary  pomp  the  rank  of  a  knight,  after  having 
bathed,  like  the  Emperor  Constantine,  in  the  ancient 
bath  of  the  Lateran  to  free  himself  from  sin. 

He  then  assumed  the  sword,  belt,  and  golden  spurs 
of  his  new  rank  to  the  accompaniment  of  sacred 
music,  and  added  to  his  already  long  string  of  titles 
those  of  "the  Zealous  Partisan  of  Italy,"  "  the  Eriend 
of  the  Universe,"  and  "  the  Candidate  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  xA.  fresh  edict,  the  conception  of  which  was 
obviously  borrowed  from  the  papal  benedictions, 
announced  to  an  astounded  world  that  the  Cit\'  of 
Rome  had  once  more  been  made  its  capital,  and  that 
the  imperial  power  belonged  to  the  Roman  and 
Italian  people.  He  therefore  invited  all  elected 
Emperors,  kings,  dukes,  princes,  counts,  and  other 
dignitaries,  who  claimed  any  voice  in  the  election  of 
the  Emperor,  to  appear  before  him  and  the  papal 
plenipotentiary  with  their  credentials,  under  pain  of 
incurring"  his  sovereign  displeasure.  It  is  impossible 
to  conceive  anything  more  ridiculous  than  this 
fantastic    assumption    of    authority    on    the    [jart    of 


UTOPIA    ON    THE    CAPITOL  1 37 

one  who  had  not  the  smallest  means  of  enforcinor  it. 
But,  as  yet,  the  people  were  on  his  side,  and  in  Rome, 
at  least,  he  was  still  applauded.  The  papal  vicar, 
poor  man,  was  amazed  at  this  strange  proceeding  ; 
but  the  feeble  protest  which  he  raised  was  drowned 
by  the  sound  of  the  drums  which  heralded  in  the 
new  order  of  things.  A  great  banquet  concluded 
the  ceremonial  of  the  day,  and  wine  and  water  flowed 
for  the  use  of  the  people,  from  the  nostrils  of  the 
famous  bronze  horse  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  Next  day 
the  infatuated  Tribune  celebrated,  about  five  cen- 
turies too  soon,  the  accomplishment  of  the  Unity  of 
Italy  and  put  golden  rings  on  the  fingers  of  the 
Italian  envoys  in  token  of  the  "  marriage  "  of  Rome 
with  their  respective  cities.  Perhaps  the  culminating" 
stroke  of  his  folly  was  when  he  bade  our  own  King 
Edward  TIL,  who  had  just  captured  Calais,  to  make 
his  peace  with  France,  and  informed  all  whom  it 
might  concern  that  he,  Cola  di  Rienzo,  had  resolved 
to  cause  all  wars  to  cease.  No  mob  orator  during  the 
most  idyllic  days  of  the  French  Revolution  ever 
talked  such  nonsense.  No  German  professor  in  the 
Frankfort  Parliament  of  1848  ever  showed  less 
appreciation  of  hard  facts  than  this  Roman  Tribune. 
Yet  he  had  not  even  yet  reached  the  turning-point 
in  his  career  ;  even  the  rival  candidates  for  the 
Neapolitan  throne  appealed  to  his  decision,  and  on 
August  15th,  he,  the  democratic  official,  had  himself 
crowned  with  six  crowns,  of  oak,  ivy,  m}'rtlc,  laurel, 
olive,  and  silver,  in  token  of  his  numerous  virtues. 
In  his  madness  he  actually  compared  himself  with 
Christ,    and    cited    his    thirty-three    years    and     his 


138        ROME   DURING    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY'' 

redemption    of   Rome    in    justification    of  the    com- 
parison ! 

But  the  farce  was  soon  about  to  end,  and  it  ended 
as  a  tragedy.  The  Tribune  in  all  his  theatrical  glory 
knew  full  well  that  the  nobles  had  not  forgiven  him, 
and  resolved  to  rid  himself  of  their  leaders  by  a 
stroke  of  treacherw  He  bade  the  most  distinguished 
of  them  to  a  banquet  and  had  them  arrested  and 
condemned  to  death.  Then  he  hesitated,  and  this 
hesitation  was  the  beginning  of  his  fall.  With 
theatrical  gestures  and  phrases  he  announced  that 
he  had  pardoned  his  enemies,  but  forgot  that  they 
had  not  jjardoned  him.  They  left  his  presence 
vowing  vengeance  against  the  low  fellow  who  had 
thus  insulted  them,  and  interpreted  what  he  called 
magnanimity  as  weakness.  Even  the  Pope  had 
become  alarmed  at  the  reports  of  his  proceedings, 
and  Cola  now  learnt  that  vested  interests  will,  in  the 
long  run,  prove  more  than  a  match  for  enthusiasm. 
Clement  ordered  the  Tribune's  deposition,  and 
threatened  to  annul  the  permission  to  hold  the  Jubilee, 
unless  the  Romans  would  abandon  their  idol.  The 
nobles  then  began  active  hostilities  ;  and  the  rhetorical 
notary  who  had  had  no  military  training  was  terrified 
at  the  first  glimpse  of  a  battlefield.  But  at  first 
fortune  favoured  his  braver  supporters,  and  the 
barons  were  driven  back  b}'  them  with  great  loss 
from  the  gates  of  Rome.  But  Cola,  instead  of 
following  up  his  victor}',  wasted  precious  moments 
in  pomp  and  mummerx',  composed  high-sounding 
despatches,  and  brandished  his  bloodless  sword. 
He  was  in  lack    of   money   to   pay   his  troops,  and 


THE    TRIBUNES   FALL  139 

raised  the  salt-tax  in  order  to  obtain  it — al\va)^s  an 
unpopular  measure  in  Italy.  As  difficulties  increased, 
he  lost  his  nerve  and  his  confidence  in  his  star ;  he 
began  to  have  forebodings  of  misfortune  ;  and  when 
a  few  rebels  created  a  disturbance  in  the  city,  his 
authority  collapsed  at  once.  Even  his  powers  ofj 
speech  failed  him,  and  on  December  15,  1347,  he  laid 
down  the  trappings  of  his  office ;  and,  weeping  like 
a  child,  retired  from  the  Capitol  and  took  refuge  in 
the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo.  The  seven  months' 
dream  was  over,  and  all  the  illusions  and  theories 
of  Cola's  brief  reign  had  disappeared  at  the  first 
touch  of  reality.  The  rule  of  the  Pope  and  the 
nobles  was  at  once  restored  ;  the  ex-Tribune  fled  to 
Naples,  where  the  King  of  Hungary  had  just  entered 
as  a  victor  ;  but,  finding  that  monarch  unwilling  to 
restore  him  to  Rome,  he  took  to  the  mountains, 
leaving  the  late  scene  of  his  bombastic  proceedings 
a  theatre  for  all  the  horrors  of  faction,  which  were 
aggravated  by  a  great  earthquake  and  the  Black 
Death.  Even  to-day  the  marble  stairs  of  Aracceli 
remain  as  a  micmorial  of  that  terrible  pestilence.  No 
wonder  that  the  superstitious  Romans  longed  for  the 
promised  year  of  Jubilee,  which  was  to  purge  them 
from  all  their  sins  and  rid  them  of  all  their  sorrows. 
The  second  anno  santo  was  almost  as  successful  as 
the  first,  in  spite  of  the  recent  ravages  of  the  Black 
Death  and  the  war  between  England  and  France  ; 
1,200,000  pilgrims  visited  Rome,  and  200,000  were 
reckoned  as  the  daily  population  of  a  city,  which  the 
year  before  had  not  exceeded  30,000.  The  Romans 
reaped  large  profits  from  the  piety  of  the  pilgrims;/ 


140       NOME   DURLWG    THE    ''BABYLONISH   CAPTIVITY'" 

prices  rose,  and  money  once  more  flowed  into  the 
depleted  coffers  of  the  citizens.  But  Rome  had 
greatly  dechned  since  the  previous  Jubilee,  which  a 
few  of  the  elder  visitors  could  remember.  Petrarch 
who  revisited  the  scene  of  his  triumph  in  this  year 
lamented  the  destruction  of  churches,  the  ruin  of  the 
Lateran,  and  the  crumbling  condition  of  the  city  walls. 
The  absence  of  the  Pope  was  not  counter-balanced 
by  the  presence  of  a  papal  vicar,  who  narrowly 
escaped  assassination  as  he  was  going  through  the 
streets.  As  soon  as  the  Jubilee  was  over,  the  papal 
authority  ceased  altogether,  for  there  was  nothing 
more  to  be  got  out  of  Clement,  who  had  the  sense  to 
see  that  his  best  policy  was  to  approve  whatever  the 
people  wanted.  But  his  death  in  1352  led  to  the 
election  of  Innocent  VI.,  a  man  of  strong  will  and 
moral  rectitude,  whose  first  act  was  to  send  the 
famous  Spanish  Cardinal  Albornoz  with  the  most 
ample  powers  to  act  as  his  vicar  in  Italy  and  to 
restore  order  in  the  States  of  the  Church.  As  for 
the  new  Pope  himself,  he  showed  no  desire  to  quit 
Avignon,  a  place  now  more  than  ever  dear  to  the 
Pontiffs  since  its  purchase  by  Clement  VI.  from  the 
Queen  of  Naples  and  its  consequent  independence  of 
direct  foreign  control. 

While  these  things  were  happening  in  Rome  and 
Avignon,  Cola  di  Rienzo  had  been  wandering  about 
the  mountains  of  the  Abruzzi,  consorting  with  the 
hermits  who  frequented  them  and  eagerK'  listening 
to  their  prophecies  of  a  new  era  which  was  soon  to 
open  for  mankind.  The  ex-Tribune  saw  at  once  that 
he  was  to   be    the    appointed    Messiah  of   this    new 


COLAS    RESTORATION  I4I 

redem})tion,  and  thoug^ht  that  in  Charles  IV.,  the  new 
ruler  of  Germany,  he  would  find  support  for  his 
schemes.  Accordingly,  he  sought  an  audience  of 
that  sovereign  at  Prague,  and  urged  him  to  under- 
take a  journey  to  Rome  like  so  man}-  of  his  prede- 
cessors. With  complete  disregard  of  his  former 
edicts,  the  demagogue  who  had  once  posed  as  the 
ardent  friend  of  Italian  Unity  now  declared  himself 
ready  to  hand  over  Italy  to  a  foreigner,  on  condition 
that  he  might  act  as  imperial  vicar  in  Rome.  Charles 
replied  by  ordering  the  ex-Tribune  to  be  arrested, 
and  remained  quite  unmo\-ed  by  Cola's  references  to 
their  supposed  relationship  through  Henry  VII. — an 
honour  which  he  ironically  disclaimed.  After  a 
detention  in  the  Castle  of  Raudnitz,  Charles  handed 
him  over  to  the  Pope.  The  efforts  of  Petrarch,  the 
reaction  in  Rome  which  had  now  begun  to  set  in,  the 
desire  of  the  Curia  not  to  give  offence  by  punishing 
a  popular  hero,  and  the  accession  of  Innocent  VI.  at 
this  moment,  procured  his  pardon.  The  new  Pope 
saw  in  him  a  valuable  alh'  of  Cardinal  Albornoz — for 
Cola  was  now  as  read}-  to  support  the  papal  authorit)' 
as  he  had  been  to  assist  the  cause  of  an  Emperor 
— and  sent  him  with  the  new  envo\^  to  Ital^^  At 
Perugia  the  ex-Tribune  raised  a  band  of  mercenaries 
and  set  out  for  Rome  with  the  acquiescence  of  the 
papal  legate,  who  appointed  him  Senator.  On 
August  I,  1354,  the  anniversar\-  of  his  knighthood, 
he  re-entered  the  city  as  the  darling  of  the  fickle 
populace  amid  shouts  of  joy  and  almost  universal 
applause.  On  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  the  Senator 
in   office  handed   o\er  to  him  his  official  staff,  and 


142      Ro.^/F.  ncA'/.yr,  r///-:  ''  n.invf.oxisH  captivity 

Cola,  no  longer  a  youthful  hero,  but  a  middle-aged 
and  rather  heavy  personage,  delivered  an  oration  in 
which  he  compared  his  lot  with  that  of  Nebuchadnez- 
zar, "  driven  from  men  "  for  a  season,  and  then  re- 
established in  his  kingdom.  But  his  powers  of 
rhetoric  were  no  longer  what  the\'  had  been,  while 
the  hatred  of  his  old  foes,  the  nobles,  remained 
undiminished.  His  treacherous  execution  of  the 
dreaded  robber-captain,  Monreale,  whose  riches  he 
used  for  the  payment  of  his  mercenaries,  aroused 
general  indignation  ;  the  love  of  power  and  the  need 
of  money  had  made  him  a  tyrant.  He  levied  an 
unpopular  tax  ;  he  beheaded  a  popular  citizen  ;  he 
could  not  endure  contradiction,  and  at  times  showed 
symptoms  of  hysteria.  At  last  the  end  came.  On 
October  8th  a  shout  of  "  Death  to  the  traitor  who  has 
introduced  the  taxes  !  "  roused  him  from  his  dreams. 
He  sent  to  Albornoz  for  aid,  but  it  was  too  late  ;  he 
summoned  his  bodyguard,  but  they  fled.  Three 
persons  alone  stood  by  him  as  he  went  out  on  to 
the  balcony  to  speak  to  the  people.  Cries  drowned 
his  voice,  stones  and  arrows  flew  all  around  him  ; 
even  the  banner  of  Rome  which  he  held  in  his  hand 
could  not  protect  him  ;  even  one  of  the  faithful  three 
turned  traitor.  Fire  was  set  to  the  palace,  and  the 
cowardly  Tribune,  who  imitated  the  language,  but 
could  not  imitate  the  courage,  of  the  ancient  Romans, 
tore  off  his  insignia,  cut  off  his  beard,  blackened  his 
face,  and  tried  to  slink  away  through  the  crowd  in 
a  peasant's  disguise.  To  those  who  met  him  he 
shouted  out  "  Death  to  the  traitor  !  "  with  the  loudest. 
He  had  almost  escaped,  when  his  golden  ornaments 


STATUE  OF  COLA  DI  KIENZO 


144       ROMH    D('R/\G    THE    ''  BAnVLONIS/I   CAPT/llTv" 

beti'a)'ed  him.  "  That  is  the  Tribune  !  "  shouted  one 
of  the  mob,  and  in  a  moment  he  was  a  prisoner.  His 
captors  dragged  him  to  the  spot,  where  he  had  caused 
the  robber  Monreale  to  be  executed,  and  a  dead 
silence  ensued.  It  seemed  as  if  no  one  dared  strike 
the  Tribune.  Then  one  stepped  forth  and  j^huiged  a 
dagger  into  his  breast.  The  body  was  mutilated, 
and  hung  on  a  house  in  the  quarter  where  Cola's 
hated  foes,  the  Colonna,  resided.  For  two  days  it 
swayed  to  and  fro  in  the  wind  ;  then,  by  the  com- 
mand of  the  Colonna  themselves,  all  that  remained 
of  the  once  beloved  Tribune  was  burned  b)'  Jews  on 
a  heap  of  dry  thistles  in  the  Mausoleum  of  Augustus, 
and  the  ashes  scattered,  like  those  of  his  predecessor, 
Arnold  of  Brescia.  So  perished  Cola  di  Rienzo,  one 
of  the  most  poetic  and  least  practical  figures  in  the 
history  of  Rome.  A  dreamer  and  an  enthusiast,  he 
remains,  with  all  his  faults,  an  attractive  figure  ;  but 
he  lacked  all  the  qualities  of  a  statesman.  His  ideas 
were  magnificent,  but  he  had  no  conception  of  the 
wa\'  to  achieve  them,  and  he  complete!}'  lacked  that 
simplicit}'  of  character  which  marks  all  reall\'  great 
men.  His  statue  still  stands  on  the  slope  of  the 
Capitol,  the  scene  of  his  brief  triumphs  and  sorry 
ending,  and  his  memor\-  will  not  die  so  long  as  Rome 
lives.  But  he  cannot  claim  a  place  among  the  ablest 
sons  of  the  Eternal  City.  He  was  rather  one  of  those 
wild  geniuses  who  sow  the  seeds  of  which  other  and 
sterner  natures  reap  the  fruits. 


VI 


THE    RETURN    UK    THE    I'Al'ACY 


A  GENERAL  amnesty  followed  the  death  of  the 
Tribune,  and  everything  returned  to  the  old  state. 
Charles  IV.  did,  indeed,  carry  out  one  of  Cola's  ideas 
by  coming  to  Rome  to  be  crowned  Hmperor  ;  but  his 
unceremonious  entry  showed  how  low  the  imperial 
dignity  had  sunk.  Charles  had  promised  the  Pope 
that  he  would  only  enter  the  city,  which  was  still 
supposed  to  be  the  capital  of  the  Empire,  on  the  day 
of  his  coronation,  and  he  only  stayed  there  long 
enough  to  visit  the  waterfall  of  Tivoli,  to  the  disgust 
of  Petrarch,  who  had  hoped  to  find  in  him  the 
redeemer  of  Italy,  and  not  a  mere  tourist.  Albornoz 
had  meanwhile  done  his  work  well  ;  he  had  restored 
the  papal  authority  wherever  he  went,  and  had 
enabled  Imiocent  VI.  to  rid  himself  of  aristocratic 
influence  in  Rome  by  the  return  to  the  former  system 
of  appointing  one  foreign  Senator  as  sole  adminis- 
trator of  the  city  for  a  short  term  of  office.  This 
democratic  reform  was  completed  by  the  institution 
of  seven  i^opularK^  elected  "  Reformers  of  the 
Republic,"   who   became   the   real    controllers   of   the 


146  THE    RETURN    OF    THE    PAPACY 

government.  Thus  the  Pope  and  the  people  divided 
authority  between  them,  while  the  old  nobles  dis- 
appeared from  the  annals  of  the  Capitol.  Even  in 
the  command  of  the  militia  they  were  now  super- 
seded ;  for  the  citizens  founded  about  that  time  a 
company  of  crossbow-men,  under  the  command  of 
"  standard-bearers,"  or  banderesi,  whose  special  func- 
tion it  was  to  protect  the  "  Reformers  "  against  the 
barons  and  the  marauding  bands,  at  that  time  the 
plague  of  Italy.  But  the  freebooters,  though  they 
were  kept  out  of  the  city,  ravaged  the  Campagna, 
and  the  terrible  Englishman,  Sir  John  Hawkwood, 
plundered  it  in  all  directions. 

This  remarkable  man,  who  now  appears  for  a 
moment  in  the  history  of  Rome,  had  begun  life  as  a 
tailor,  but  had  won  his  knighthood  from  Edward  III. 
by  his  prowess  in  the  war  between  England  and 
France.  When  the  peace  of  Bretigny  enabled  his 
sovereign  to  dispense  with  his  services,  he  entered 
with  zest  into  the  domestic  quarrels  of  the  Italian 
cities,  and  fought,  at  the  head  of  the  redoubtable 
"  White  Company,"  for  the  Pisans,  for  the  Pope,  and 
for  the  Florentines  in  succession,  Hallarn  has  called 
him  "  the  first  distinguished  commander  who  had 
appeared  in  Europe  since  the  destruction  of  the 
Roman  Empire,"  aivl  "the  first  real  general  of  modern 
times."  At  any  rate,  his  courage  and  skill  were  the 
constant  theme  of  his  contemporaries,  and  this  leader 
of  the  English  "  dogs,"  who  had  come  in  their  turn  to 
devour  the  carcase  of  Ital}',  was  buried,  after  an 
almost  unbroken  career  of  victories,  by  his  grateful 
Florentine  emplo\(jrs  with  ever)'  mark  of  honour  and 


S/R   JOHX    HAi\/\\\()OD  147 

regret,  and  is  still  commemorated  b\'  an  equestrian 
portrait  in  their  cathedral.  But  his  career,  brilliant 
though  it  may  have  been,  was  a  curse  to  the  unhappy 
country  which  was  the  scene  of  his  strategy. 

Once  more  the  cries  of  the  distressed  Romans  went 
up  to  the  papal  throne  at  Avignon,  and  this  time  the 
new  Pope,  Urban  V.,  resolved  to  remove  his  residence 
to  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  The  announcement  of  his 
decision  aroused  a  storm  of  protests  at  Avignon  and 
at  the  French  court.  Petrarch  performed  a  patriotic 
service  in  urging  Urban  to  pay  no  heed  to  these 
interested  arguments,  and  even  his  advancing  years 
did  not  diminish  the  force  of  language  in  which  he 
depicted  the  corruption  of  Avignon  and  the  just 
•claims  of  her  greater  rival.  To  the  praises  of  the 
Italian  climate  he  added  the  important  point,  that  it 
was  the  special  duty  of  the  Church's  head  to  be  in 
a  more  central  position  than  Avignon  now  that  the 
Turks  had  entered  Europe  and  were  becoming  a 
menace  to  Christendom.  But  other  reasons  weighed 
with  Urban.  The  long  Anglo-P"rench  war  had  made 
its  effects  felt  even  as  far  south  as  Avignon  ;  the 
robber-bands,  which  prowled  about  Provence,  made 
the  inmates  of  the  palace  on  the  Rhone  tremble,  and 
even  to  a  P^ench  I'ope  the  overweening  influence  of 
the  King  of  France  was  galling.  In  1367  Urban 
started,  and  sailed  from  Marseilles  with  a  splendid 
escort  of  ships.  His  landing  at  Corneto  and  his 
journey  thence  to  Rome  were  marred  by  the  death  of 
the  great  Cardinal  Albornoz,  who  had  once  sent  a 
waggon-load  of  keys  to  Avignon  as  a  proof  of  his 
prowess   in   subduing  the  Italian  cities  to  the  I'apac}'. 


14^  THh    /RETURN   OF    THE    PAPACY 

III  October  the  Pope  entered  Rome,  threw  himself  in 
prayer  on  the  floor  of  St.  Peter's,  and  took  his  seat 
on  the  throne,  where  for  63  years  no  Pope  had  sat. 
Petrarch  hastened  to  congratulate  him  ;  and  the 
Romans,  in  their  joy  at  having  the  Pontiff  once  more 
among  them,  sacrificed  their  democratic  institutions 
at  his  bidding,  and  received  from  his  hands,  in  place 
of  the  Seven  and  the  bandcresi,  three  papal  officials, 
called   Conservatori. 

The  presence  of  the  Pope  soon  attracted  dis- 
tinguished visitors.  The  Queen  of  Naples,  the  King 
of  Cyprus,  and  even  the  Emperor  Charles  IV. 
arrived.  The  Greek  Emperor,  John  Pala;ologus  I., 
came  next  to  implore  the  papal  aid  against  the  Turks, 
and  readily  became  "  converted  "  to  the  Catholic 
faith  in  the  palace  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  13ut  the  visit 
of  these  eminent  personages  could  not  reconcile 
Urban  to  a  permanent  residence  among  the  Romans. 
The  neglected  condition  of  the  Vatican,  the  impossi- 
bility of  remaining  all  the  summer  in  the  city,  and 
the  fear  of  a  possible  outbreak  of  the  people,  made 
him  long  for  the  civilised  delights  of  Avignon,  and  in 
1370  he  started  on  his  way  home,  for  he  and  most  of 
his  Cardinals  had  come  to  regard  Rome  as  an  exile 
and  A\ignon  as  their  home.  Dee[j  was  the  mortifi- 
cation of  the  Romans  when  they  learnt  the  Pope's 
decision,  and  the  .Swedish  saint,  St.  Bridget,  who  had 
gone  to  Rome  in  obedience  to  a  vision  which  bade  her 
stay  there  till  she  had  seen  both  Pope  and  Emperor 
appeared  before  him  and  foretold  his  speedy  death,  if 
he  returned  to  Avignon.  But  Urban  turned  a  deaf 
ear    to   her    prophec)',    and    wrote    an  epistle   to   his 


ST.    BRIDGET  149 

beloved  Romans,  in  which  he  testified  to  their  good 
behaviour  and  bade  them  continue  in  the  same  course, 
if  they  desired  the  honour  of  further  [^apal  visits. 
Then  he  went,  and  within  the  )'ear  la\'  dead  in  Iiis 
palace  at  Avignon.  The  forecast  of  St.  Bridget  had 
come  true,  just  as  another  of  her  prophecies,  that  one 
da)'  the  Pope  should  own  no  more  than  the  Leonine 
City,  has  in  our  own  generation  been  accomplished. 
When  she,  too,  died,  another  prophetess,  St.  Catherine 
of  Siena,  took  up  her  parable,  and  warned  Urban's 
successor,  Gregory  XI.,  to  abandon  Avignon. 

But  another  and  more  potent  influence  than 
prophecy  was  now  tending  to  bring  the  Papacy  back 
to  Ital}-.  The  Italians  had  grown  more  and  more 
restive  at  the  interference  of  Frenchmen  in  their 
affairs,  and  the  stupid  policy  of  the  P^rench  Popes  at 
Avignon  in  sending  their  fellow-countrymen  instead 
of  Italians  to  represent  them  in  the  States  of  the 
Church  had  irritated  the  natives  to  rebellion.  There 
was  no  longer  an  Albornoz  to  put  down  revolt  and 
send  the  keys  of  submissive  cities  to  his  master. 
P'lorence  raised  the  standard  of  freedom,  and  invited 
Rome  to  aid  in  driving  the  foreigner  from  Italy  and  in 
establishing  the  unit\-  of  the  Italian  name.  Once 
again,  as  in  the  daj's  of  Cola  di  Rienzo,  the  Romans 
were  bribed  to  abandon  the  national  cause  b}'  the 
promise  of  the  Pope  to  come  back.  Gregor)'  XI. 
saw  that  the  temporal  power  would  be  lost,  if  he  did 
not  return  ;  and,  in  spite  of  strenuous  efforts  to  detain 
him  at  Avignon,  he  set  out  in  1376  for  Rome.  When 
the  Florentines  heard  the  news,  they  wrote  again  to 
the  Romans,  warning  them  against  being  deceived  by 


150         THE   RETURN    OF    THE    PAPACY 

Gregory,  as  the\'  had  been  b\'  his  predecessor.  But 
the  Romans  listened  not  to  their  warnings,  and 
received  the  Pope  with  immense  enthusiasm  when  he 
sailed  up  the  Tiber.  On  Januarx-  17,  1377,  he  made 
his  solemn  entry ;  the  "  captivit}' "  of  Avignon  was 
over,  and  Rome  was  no  longer  a  "  widow."  The 
memory  of  that  day  still  lives  on  Gregory's  tomb  in 
the  Church  of  Sta.  Francesca  Romana,  the  reliefs  of 
which  reproduce  the  scene  which  greeted  him  as  he 
arrived  at  the  gate  of  St.  Paul  with  St.  Catherine  by 
his  side.  But  soon  the  returning  Pope  found  that  all 
was  not  roses  in  the  cit)'  which  had  thus  welcomed 
him,  and  regretted  that  he  had  come.  Perhaps,  if  he 
had  lived  longer,  he  would  have  gone  back  to 
Avignon,  like  his  predecessor.  But  he  died  before  he 
could  return,  and  with  his  death  arose  the  schism 
which  he  had  foreseen,  the  great  question,  whether  an 
Italian  or  a  foreigner  should  be  head  of  the  Church, 
and  whether  the  Holy  See  should  be  at  Rome. 

The  Conclave  of  1378  was  held  in  the  Vatican  for 
the  first  time  in  the  histor)-  of  the  institution  and 
amidst  the  most  stringent  precautions.  But  while 
the  Cardinals  went  to  the  hall  of  election,  they  could 
hear  the  people  cr}'ing  aloud  for  "  a  Roman  or  an 
Italian  "  Pope,  and  their  threats  even  penetrated  the 
hall  itself.  As  the  election  was  proceeding,  the 
impatient  mob  tried  to  dri\'c  lances  through  the 
floor,  and  prepared  to  set  fire  to  the  building. 
Suddenl}^  a  report  was  spread  that  a  Roman  had 
been  elected,  and  the  people  burst  open  the  doors  in 
their  joy.  The  news  was  false  ;  but  the  terrified 
Cardinals  allowed  the  Romans  to  bcliexe  it  in  order 


THE    CONCLAVE    OF    1 378  I5I 

to  save  their  own  lives.  While  the  real  Pope  crouched 
in  a  corner,  the  false  Pope  was  placed  on  the  throne 
and  could  only  free  himself  from  that  position  by 
declaring  that  the  Archbishop  of  ]3ari  had  been 
chosen.  Furious  at  the  deception  practised  on  them, 
the  people  flew  to  arms  and  broke  up  the  Conclave. 
But  next  day  the  tumult  abated,  and  the  mob 
consoled  itself  with  the  reflection,  that  at  least  an 
Italian  had  been  elected.  Yet  the  nomination  of 
Urban  VI.  was  only  the  beginning  of  troubles. 
Utterly  devoid  of  tact,  the  new  Pope  fell  to  rating 
the  Ultramontane  Cardinals  with  their  spiritual 
shortcomings,  alienated  his  French  supporters  by 
his  sympathy  with  England,  and  announced  that 
henceforth  he  would  appoint  Cardinals  from  all 
nationalities — an  excellent  measure,  perhaps,  but  not 
calculated  to  increase  his  popularit}-.  The  result  of 
this  treatment  was  soon  apparent ;  the  Ultramontane 
Cardinals,  under  the  excuse  of  change  of  air,  went  off 
to  Anagni,  and  declared  the  election  of  Urban  null 
and  void.  When  the  latter  offered  to  submit  his 
claims  to  a  council,  they  declined  to  consent,  and 
justified  their  conduct  by  saying  that  they  had  been 
compelled  by  force  to  elect  an  Italian.  In  his  place 
they  now  set  up  a  Genevan,  under  the  name  of 
Clement  \'II.  Racial  feeling  was  thus  imported  into 
the  struggle,  and  it  was  ea.v)"  to  see  on  which  side 
French  sympathies  would  be.  Urban  was  now  alone 
except  for  the  presence  of  the  saint  of  Siena,  for  even 
the  Italian  Cardinals  had  been  alienated  b\"  his  want 
of  tact.  In  his  darkest  hour  she  stood  beside  him, 
and  bade  him  hold  out,  so  that  he  might  reform  the 


152  THE    RETURN    OE    THE    EAFACY 

Church  and  free  Jerusalem.  Soon  the  whole  world 
declared  itself  for  one  Pope  or  the  other.  Scotland 
and  the  Spanish  kingdoms  believed  in  Clement 
VII.;  England  and  Germany  held  b}'  Urban  VI. 
Naturally  the  next  step  was  civil  war  between  the 
two  rivals.  The  warlike  Bishop  of  Norwich,  Henry 
de  Spenser,  headed  a  force  of  60,000  "  Crusaders  "  for 
the  defence  of  the  English  candidate.  Urban's 
adherents  besieged  and  captured,  but  not  without 
great  difficult}',  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo,  the  one 
spot  in  Rome  which  their  opponents  held.  For  the 
first  time  cannon  thundered  from  those  walls,  whence 
now  ever)^  day  a  shot  announces  the  hour  of  noon. 
The  Romans  had  no  sooner  entered  the  castle,  than 
they  set  to  work  to  destroy  that  splendid  monument 
which  had  hitherto  escaped  a  hundred  sieges.  Urban 
was  now  complete  master  of  Rome,  and  his  rival  fled 
to  Avignon,  there  to  continue  the  fatal  schism  in  the 
Church.  Not  the  least  of  its  victims  was  St. 
Catherine,  who  died,  full  of  grief  at  this  sorry 
spectacle,  and  found  a  grave  in  the  city  of  which 
five  centuries  later  she  was  proclaimed  the  pro- 
tectress. 

Once  established  in  Rome,  Urban  governed  with 
energ)-.  He  appointed  Senators  and  other  officials, 
and  crowned  Charles  of  Durazzo  King  of  Naples,  on 
his  way  to  conquer  tkat  distracted  kingdom.  But 
family  interests  soon  led  the  Pope  to  leave  Rome  and 
take  a  personal  part  in  the  Neapolitan  conflict.  He 
enlisted  the  English  condottierc,  Hawkwood,  in  his 
service,  and  appeared  before  the  world  as  a  leader  of 
mercenaries  instead  of  a  High  Priest  of  Christianity. 


''GREAT   Sf7//S.]/    OF    THF    WFST  [53 

He  fixed  his  abode  at  Noccra,  surrounded  b)'  robbers 
and  pirates,   spies   and   beggars,  crafty    la\v)'.ers  and 
craftier  priests — in  fact,  the  scum  of  Ital}-  and,  indeed, 
of    Europe.     Plots    and    counterplots    followed    one 
another   in  rapid  succession  ;   Urban   quarrelled  with 
his    creature,    King  Charles,  and  Charles    suspected 
Urban  of  a  design  for  placing  a  favourite  nephew  on 
the  throne.     Suddenly  the  Pope    had  six  Cardinals 
arrested  and  put  into  a  cistern,  where  they  suffered 
from    hunger,    cold,    damp,  and    vermin,    while    the 
inhuman   nephew   laughed   at    their  groans,  and  the 
merciless  uncle  paced  the  terrace  of  the  castle,  reading 
aloud  prayers   out   of  his  breviary  with  ostentatious 
piety.     Even  the  savage    feelings  of  that   age  were 
shocked  at  such  conduct,  and  the  King  of  Naples 
besieged  his  former  patron  at  Nocera.     A  reward  was 
offered  to  any  one,  vrho  would  deliver  up  the  Pope, 
dead    or    alive  ;    but    the     Pope,    nothing    daunted, 
appeared  again  and  again  at  a  window  of  the  castle,  a 
torch  in  one  hand  and  a  bell  in  the  other,  and  cursed 
the  arm)-  of  the  impious  king  who  had  thus  dared  to 
put  a  price    on   the  head    of  the    Lord's  anointed. 
The  town  fell,  but  the  castle  held  out,  until  the  Pope 
managed    to    make    his   escape    under    an    escort    of 
mercenaries  to  the  Adriatic  coast  near  Trani,  where 
some  Genoese  galle\'s  took  off  the  papal  convo}-,  not 
forgetting    the    imprisoned    Cardinals.     Arrived    in 
safety   at  Genoa,    Urban    had    those   poor   wretches 
murdered,   with    the  solitary  exception   of  one  who 
happened  to  be  an  Englishman,  and  was  spared  at 
the   earnest  entreaty  of  his  sovereign,    Richard    II. 
After  this  horrible  crime,  the  Pope  set  out  once  more 


154  T^HE    RETURN   OF    THE   PAPACY 

for  Naples,  where  the  death  of  King  Charles  had 
revived  his  ambitious  hopes  for  his  own  nephew.  On 
the  way  through  Umbria,  his  mule  stumbled  and 
threw  him  ;  and  as  he  la}'  on  the  ground,  a  hermit 
came  up  and  told  him  that  he  would  return  to  Rome 
and  die  there.  The  prophecy  came  true  ;  Urban 
returned  to  the  Vatican,  and  with  his  usual  vigour 
soon  showed  the  rebellious  Romans  that  he  was  their 
master — a  fact  which  they  had  forgotten  during  his 
absence.  Rut  just  as  he  was  preparing  to  reward 
them  by  a  premature  celebration  of  the  third  Jubilee, 
he  died  in  1389,  according  to  the  testimony  of  his 
contemporaries,  a  rough  and  inexorable  tyrant.  Had 
he  been  more  tactful,  perhaps  he  might  have  pre- 
vented that  terrible  schism,  which  had  broken  out  at 
his  election  and  was  destined  to  distract  the  Church 
for  so  long  after  his  death. 

Boniface  IX.,  his  successor,  proceeded  to  celebrate 
the  anno  santo  which  the  late  Pope  had  fixed  for 
1390.  In  spite  of  the  abstention  of  all  those  power- 
ful nations  which  supported  the  cause  of  the  Avignon 
Papac)',  this  third  Jubilee  was  most  successful. 
Germans,  Hungarians,  Bohemians,  Poles,  and  English- 
men flocked  to  Rome  to  swell  the  coffers  of  the  Vatican, 
and  papal  agents  were  sent  into  all  lands  to  sell  in- 
dulgences at  a  high  price  to  those  who  were  debarred 
from  coming  in  person.  This  and  other  abuses 
brought  the  Church  more  and  more  into  disrepute. 
Few  Popes  were  greedier  than  Boniface  IX.,  and  his 
maxim  was  to  take  mone}'  for  everything,  no  matter 
how  small  the  favour  and  how  small  the  price.  He 
rai.sed  funds  by  shameless    simony,   leased   out    the 


BONIFACE    IX.    MASTER    OF   ROME  1 55 

important  towns  of  the  States  of  the  Church  to  g"reat 
famiHes,  hke  the  Malatesti  of  Rimini  and  the  Feltreschi 
of  Urbino,  and  enriched  his  relatives  by  tolerating  all 
sorts  of  abuses.  But  he  succeeded,  by  the  simple 
device  of  transferring  his  residence  to  Assisi,  in 
obtaining  most  favourable  terms  from  the  Romans 
for  himself  and  his  successors.  It  was  now  a  vital 
point  for  Rome  that  the  Pope  should  dwell  there  ; 
and,  in  consideration  of  his  promise  to  do  so,  the 
citizens  allowed  him  to  nominate  the  Senator,  to 
remain  exempt  from  all  taxes  and  dues,  and  to 
appoint  one  of  two  officials  whose  duty  it  was  to 
look  after  the  provisioning  of  the  city.  The  death 
of  the  Avignon  Pope,  Clement  VII.,  was  another 
stroke  of  fortune  for  him  ;  but,  in  spite  of  strenuous 
efforts  by  various  peacemakers,  another  schismatical 
Pope,  the  Spanish  Cardinal,  Luna, was  appointed  under 
the  title  of  Benedict  XIII.,  and  the  schism  continued 
to  divide  Christendom  in  twain.  In  Rome,  how- 
ever, Boniface  was  now  absolute  master  ;  he  made  an 
unsuccessful  rising  the  excuse  for  suppressing  the 
democratic  guilds  and  abolishing  the  handeresi.  He 
thus  completed  what  Cola  di  Rienzo  had  begun  ;  the 
Tribune  had  broken  the  power  of  the  nobles,  Boniface 
in  1398  put  down  the  turbulent  democrac}'.  P"or  the 
first  time  the  cit\'  owned  the  absolute  swa)'  of  the 
Pontiff,  and  a  foreign  Senator,  a  Malatesta  of  Rimini, 
ruled  as  the  papal  nominee  on  the  Capitol.  In  order 
to  strengthen  }-et  further  his  position,  Boniface  ordered 
the  restoration  of  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo,  the 
erection  of  fortifications  at  the  Vatican,  and  the 
conversion    of  the    Senator's    jjalace  on    the   Capitol 


156  THF    RFTURX    OF    THF    PAPACY 

into  a  stronghold.  Ostia,  too,  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber  were  protected  against  pirates,  and  a  papal 
flotilla  was  created.  The  Romans  looked  on  and 
murmured,  but  the}-  could  not  prevent  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  Republican  freedom.  The)-  were, 
however,  to  some  extent  pacified  by  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  fourth  Jubilee,  which  took  place  only  ten 
years  after  the  third,  in  1400.  In  spite  of  the  recent 
celebration  of  an  anno  snnto,  the  roads  were  once 
more  black  with  pilgrims,  and  the  "  Flagellants " 
again  made  their  appearance,  30,000  of  these  fanatics, 
clad  in  white,  parading  the  streets  of  the  cit}'  and 
preaching  that  the  enrl  of  the  world  was  at  hand.  As 
usual,  plague  accompanied  the  pilgrims,  and  at  last 
the  Pope  had  to  forbid  the  "  Flagellants  "  to  spread 
abroad  their  infectious  doctrines  and  the  contagion 
of  the  diseases  which  the}-  often  brought  with  them. 
Even  while  the  Jubilee  was  going  on  the  Colonna 
family  made  an  attempt  to  kill  the  Pope,  but  the 
failure  of  the  plot  onl}-  strengthened  his  hands. 
"  He  ruled,"  in  the  words  of  an  old  chronicler,  "like 
a  stern  Emperor  over  the  Romans,"  and  died  in  full 
possession  of  the  temporal  power  in  1404. 

No  sooner  was  his  strong  hand  withdrawn  than  the 
citizens  rose  in  tumult  ;  barricades  were  erected  in 
the  streets  ;  the  ancient  feud  of  the  Colonna  and 
Orsini  was  revived  ;  the  people  refused  to  pay 
homage  to  the  new  Pope,  Innocent  VII.,  unless  he 
would  promise  to  relinquish  the  temporal  power. 
At  this  critical  moment  King  Ladislaus  of  Naples 
entered  Rome,  and  brought  about  a  compromise,  by 
which  the  Pope  surrendered  the  autocratic  authorit}^, 


INNOCENT    VIII.    AND   GREGORY    XII.  \  S7 

which  his  predecessor  had  estabHshed,  and  restored 
to  the  citizens  their  former  hberties.  But  the  people 
were  not  for  long  content.  "  Have  I  not  given  you 
enough?"  said  the  indignant  Pope.  "  Will  you  take 
from  me  my  mantle  too?"  Civil  war  broke  out,  and 
the  murder  of  the  people's  representatives  by  the 
Pope's  nephew  increased  the  fury  of  the  Romans. 
Innocent,  who  was  himself  guiltless  of  the  crime,  had 
to  flee  for  safety  to  Viterbo,  hotly  pursued  by  the 
populace  all  the  way.  Unable  to  catch  the  Pope, 
the  mob  wreaked  its  vengeance  on  the  Vatican,  and 
set  to  work  to  destroy  the  papal  archives.  Then  the 
inevitable  reaction  set  in  ;  the  attempt  of  one  faction 
to  hand  over  Rome  to  the  King  of  Naples  threw  the 
others  into  the  arms  of  the  Pope,  and  the  amazed 
Pontiff  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  rebellious 
subjects  offer  him  the  keys  of  the  city  and  implore 
him  to  come  back.  Even  his  nephew  rode  by  his 
side,  unscathed  and  unpunished,  into  the  Vatican. 
As  for  the  citizens,  their  reward  was  the  restoration 
of  the  Roman  University,  which  had  fallen  into  deca}'. 
But  if  the  civil  war  had  ceased  in  Rome,  the  schism 
in  the  Church  still  continued.  The  opportunit}'  of 
hcaH ng  it  on  the  death  of  Innocent  in  1406  was 
allowed  to  slip  ;  but  each  Cardinal  who  was  present 
at  the  Conclave  vowed  that  if  elected  he  would  use 
all  his  influence  to  re-unite  the  Church  and  even  hiy 
down  his  great  office  should  the  interests  of  re-union 
demand  that  sacrifice.  Gregory  XII.,  the  new  Pope, 
at  once  declared  himself  ready  to  keep  his  oath,  and 
invited  the  anti-Pope  to  imitate  his  example  and 
resign   at  the   same   moment.     But   it   was   with   the 


158  THE   RETURN   OF    THE    PAPACY 

papal  resignations  as  in  our  own  day  with  universal 
disarmament,  no  one  was  willing  to  begin.  Mean- 
while the  world  at  large  grew  more  and  more 
disgusted  with  the  abuses  of  the  Church,  and 
reformers  cried  a  plague  on  both  Rome  and  Avig- 
non, demanding  a  council  which  should  put  an  end 
to  this  divided  government  with  all  its  evils. 

There  was,  however,  one  active  opponent  of 
re-union,  the  King  of  Naples,  who  had  reason  to 
fear  that  a  council  might  result  in  the  election  of  a 
Pope  who  would  be  beyond  his  influence  and  might 
even  deprive  him  of  his  kingdom.  Accordingly,  as 
soon  as  the  news  of  the  possible  reconciliation 
reached  him,  Ladislaus  prepared  a  coup  iVctat  at 
Rome.  At  his  instigation  and  aided  by  his  troops, 
the  Colonna  made  an  attempt  to  seize  the  city,  and 
a  little  later  he  appeared  in  person  before  its  gates. 
The  utmost  distress  prevailed  ;  the  Pope  had  left, 
after  having  pledged  his  very  tiara  in  order  to  raise 
mone}' ;  the  people  were  starving ;  the  streets  lay  at 
the  merc\-  of  robbers  ;  even  a  foreign  ruler  seemed 
almost  preferable  to  utter  ruin.  Ladislaus  was 
inx'ited  to  enter,  and  he  entered  in  a  robe  which 
bore  the  significant  words :  Aut  CiEsar  ant  nihil. 
Rome  and  Italy  seemed  to  be  in  his  power,  and  the 
person  who  was  least  anno\'ed  b}-  his  success  was, 
curiously  enough,  the  Pope.  P'or  Gregorx-  XII.  was 
glad  that  the  arrival  of  the  King  of  Naples  had 
frustrated  a  plan  of  his  x\vignon  rixal  for  the  seizure 
of  Rome  in  his  own  absence.  Moreover,  he  thus 
gained  a  fresh  excuse  for  postponing  the  meeting  of 
a    council    which    would    j^robably  demand   his   own 


.4    PIRATE    AS    POPE  159 

instant  resignation.  Nothing  is  less  decorous  than 
the  way  in  which  each  of  the  two  Popes  tried  to 
represent  himself  as  eager  for  a  pacification  of  the 
Church  and  his  adversary  as  the  sole  obstacle 
to  that  desired  end.  They  exchanged  letters,  they 
both  sent  out  envoys,  but  neither  was  in  earnest.  At 
last  each  Pope  was  deserted  by  his  Cardinals,  and 
while  Benedict  withdrew  to  Perpignan,  Gregory 
ceded  Rome  and  the  whole  territory  of  the  Church 
to  the  King  of  Naples,  and  sought  refuge  in  the 
Republic  of  San  Marino.  The  cautious  Republicans, 
afraid  to  draw  down  upon  themselves  the  wrath  of  his 
adversaries,  declined  to  receive  him,  and  the  Council 
of  Pisa,  having  pronounced  the  deposition  of  both 
him  and  his  rival,  elected  a  Oetan  as  sole  Pope  under 
the  name  of  Alexander  V.,  the  first  Greek  who  had 
occupied  the  Holy  See  for  seven  centuries.  But  as 
both  the  deposed  Popes  continued  their  protests, 
Christendom  now  found  itself  divided  into  three 
papal  parties  instead  of  two.  Alexander,  however, 
was  supported  by  considerable  force,  and  Rome,  after 
a  struggle,  surrendered  to  his  party.  The  citizens 
begged  him  to  come  among  them,  but  he  died  before 
he  could  fulfil  their  wish,  poisoned,  it  was  believed,  at 
the  instigation  of  the  terrible  man  who  became  his 
successor  and  has  gained  awful  notoriety  for  the  name 
of  John  XXIII. 

Those  who  nowadays  gaze  on  his  magnificent  tomb 
in  the  Battistero  at  Plorence  may  well  wonder  what  he 
had  done  to  merit  so  distinguished  a  grave.  P'or  this 
new  Pope  was  said  to  have  begun  his  career  as  a 
pirate,   and    there    was    nothing    in    his    later  life   to 


l6o  THE    RETURN    OF    THE    PAPACY 

render    the.  story  improbable.       He  had   abandoned 
pirac}'    for    the    more    profitable    and    strictly    legal 
profession    of    an    indulgence-hawker,    and    his    pro- 
ceedings when  legate  at  Bologna  were  so  disgusting 
that    they    cannot    be    mentioned.       But     while    his 
character  would  have  qualified   him   for  the  gallows 
rather    than    for    the     V^atican,    if    judged     by    the 
standard    of   modern    times,   he   was  a   strong    man, 
who  shrank  from  nothing  in  the  pursuit  of  his  ends. 
His  first  object  was  to  destroy  the  Neapolitan  king 
who  was  sheltering  Gregory  in  his  dominions,  and  he 
accordingly  sent  a  pretender  with  his  blessing  to  hew 
Agag  in  pieces.     Having  failed  to  achieve  this  aim  by 
force,  he  induced  the   King  by  diplomatic   measures 
to  abandon  the  cause   of  Gregory,  and  to  recognise 
himself  as   Pope.     The  aged  fugitive  learnt  that  he 
could   not  put   his   trust   in   princes,  and   after   futile 
wanderings    on    the   eastern    shore   of  the    Adriatic, 
found    a    refuge    in    the    palace    of  the   Malatesti  at 
Rimini.     But  his  flight  from  the  kingdom  of  Naples 
did  not  bring  security  to  his  rival  in   Rome.     John 
was  pressed  from  all  sides  to  convene  a  council    for 
the    removal    of    the    abuses    in    the    Church,    while 
Ladislaus    of    Naples    aimounced     his    intention    of 
occupying  Rome  if  John  left  it  to  attend  the  council. 
The  King   of  Naples   for  once  kept   his  word.     He 
marched   on    Rome,  and   entered   it   without   a  blow. 
John  XXHI.,  like  Gregory  XH.,  was  a  fugitive  and 
an  outlaw,  wandering  from  one  hostile  city  to  another, 
and  even  imploring  the  assistance  of  King  Henry  V. 
of  England  against  his  enemies.     At  last  he  begged 
the    aid    of   Sigismund  of   German}',  and    the  latter 


THE    COUNCIL    OF   CONSTANCE  l6l 

granted  his  request  on  one  condition — that  he  should 
convene  the  long-discussed  council  at  Constance. 
John  vainly  endeavoured  to  escape  from  this 
dilemma,  and  tried  at  least  to  substitute  an  Italian 
town  as  the  place  of  meeting.  But  Sigismund  was 
obdurate.  John  had  to  announce  the  ap[)roaching 
council  according  to  his  instructions,  and  then 
Sigismund  bade  all  three  Popes  to  appear  before 
that  dread  tribunal.  Death  removed  the  last 
obstacle  to  the  assembling  of  the  council ;  Ladislaus 
was  brought  back  to  Naples  to  die,  and  the 
rule  of  the  Church  was  restored  at  Rome.  But 
John  XX 1 1 1. 's  career  as  Pope  was  over.  In  vain 
he  tried  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  council  from 
his  own  misdeeds  to  the  heresies  of  VVickliffe  and 
Huss  ;  the  decision  of  the  meeting  was  that  all  three 
Popes  should  resign.  John  promised  to  abdicate,  but 
fled,  disguised  as  a  peasant,  and  revoked  his  promise. 
He  was  captured  and  tried,  and  his  trial  gave  occasion 
to  the  tremendous  epigram  of  Gibbon  :  "  The  most 
scandalous  charges  were  suppressed  ;  the  vicar  of 
Christ  was  only  accused  of  piracy,  murder,  rape, 
sodomy,  and  incest."  Imprisonment  was  a  punish- 
ment I'ar  too  mild  for  such  crimes  ;  but  perhaps  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  find  a  penalty 
commensurate  with  what  the  culprit  deserved. 
Gregory  XII.  then  abdicated,  and  not  long  after- 
wards died;  only  Benedict  XIII.  remained  unbending. 
To  the  last  he  maintained  the  show  of  papal  dignity 
in  the  sea-beaten  castle  of  Pefiiscola,  which  rises  high 
out  of  the  water  off  the  coast  between  Valencia  and 
Tarragona — a  Spanish  St.   Michael's  Mount,  but  far 

12 


1 62  THE    RETURN    OF    THE    PAPACY 

less  accessible  than  its  Cornish  prototype.'  There  he 
Hved  for  eight  years,  setting  at  naught  both  the 
decrees  of  the  council  and  the  familiar  prophecy, 
which  had  foretold  that  no  Pope  should  ever  "see  the 
years  of  St.  Peter."  When  he  died  he  was  in  the 
thirtieth  year  of  his  illegitimate  pontificate,  a  record 
exceeded  by  Pius  IX.  alone.  His  last  injunction  to 
the  two  Cardinals  who  were  with  him  was  that  they 
should  elect  his  successor.  But  no  one  heeded  the 
proceedings  of  this  miniature  Conclave  on  a  Spanish 
peninsula.  Having  deposed  all  three  Popes,  the 
council  elected  Martin  V.  as  sole  Pontiff,  and  thus 
ended  the  great  schism,  which  for  forty  years  had 
distracted  Christendom. 

While  the  council  was  thus  deciding  who  was  to 
rule  the  Church,  Rome  was  given  over  to  discord  and 
confusion.  The  Neapolitan  faction  had  not  yet  been 
driven  out  by  the  papal  vicar,  and  a  third  pretender 
appeared  before  the  gates  in  the  person  of  one 
Fortebraccio,  or  "  Strongarm,"  a  robber-captain  of 
Perugia,  who  had  formerly  been  in  the  employ  of  the 
pirate-Pope,  and  who  resembled  his  master  in  strength 
of  will  no  less  than  in  strength  of  wrist.  Such  was 
the  degradation  of  public  spirit  in  Rome  at  that 
moment,  that  this  freebooter  was  not  only  able  to 
make  himself  master  of  the  cit}-,  but  was  actually 
welcomed  by  the  citizens.  He  styled  himself  their 
"  defender,"  appointed  a  Seiiator,  and  made  himself 
at  home  in  the  Vatican.  But  Attendolo  Sforza, 
another  and   a  greater  coudottierc  than  he,  arrived  on 

'   When  the  author  saw  I'eniscola  he  reathly  understood  h(jw  the  old 
I'ope  could  defy  capture  there. 


END    OF    THE   SCHISM  1 63 

the  scene,  and  "  Strongarm  "  withdrew  without  striking 
a  blow.  Martin  V.  had  the  sense  to  take  the  new 
master  of  Rome  into  his  service,  and  also  came  to 
terms  with  "  Strongarm."  As  his  deposed  rival, 
John  XXIII.,  was  now  dead  and  the  two  soldiers  of 
fortune  were  pacified,  nothing  further  prevented  his 
entry  into  Rome.  A  Roman  himself,  and  one  of 
the  noble  family  of  Colonna,  the  new  Pope,  who 
personified  the  Union  of  Christendom  and  the 
restoration  of  authority  to  Rome  as  the  religious 
capital  of  the  world,  was  received  with  every  mark 
of  respect  when  he  entered  the  city  in  1420.  But 
Rome  had  fallen,  indeed,  from  her  ancient  greatness. 
Crumbling  houses  and  filthy  streets,  through  which 
robbers  prowled  unpunished — such  was  the  aspect 
which  met  the  eyes  of  the  Pontiff.  Well  might  a 
contemporary  English  chronicler,  who  was  then  living 
there,  exclaim,  as  he  heard  the  wolves  fighting  with 
the  dogs  under  the  very  walls  of  St.  Peter's,  "  O 
God,  how  lamentable  is  the  state  of  Rome  !  Once  it 
was  filled  by  great  lords  and  palaces  ;  now  it  is  full 
of  huts,  thieves,  wolves,  and  vermin,  while  the 
Romans  tear  themselves  in  pieces."  Such  was  the 
insecurity  of  the  city,  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
returning  Pope  was  to  engage  a  captain  and  seventy 
men  to  protect  the  Vatican — the  origin  of  the  Swiss 
Guard  of  our  own  time.  As  compared  with  other 
Italian  cities,  or  even  with  Avignon,  the  Rome  of  the 
early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  was,  indeed,  a  heap 
of  ruins. 

Yet  even  the  ruins  of  so  much  greatness  had  an 
influence    over    the    minds   of  those  who   saw   them, 


164  THE    RETURN    OF    THE    PAPACY 

such  as  neither  Avignon,  nor  even  Florence,  then  the 
most  cultured  town  in  Italy,  could  exercise.  Dante 
had  said  that  the  stones  in  the  walls  of  Aurelian  and 
the  ground  on  which  Rome  stood  were  worth  more 
than  all  else  in  his  eyes.  A  learned  Greek  called  the 
crumbling  monuments  of  the  Eternal  City  "  the  noblest 
spectacle  in  the  world,  a  compendium  of  all  antiquity." 
Yet  in  culture  the  Romans  of  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
and  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  were  far  behind 
less  eminent  rivals.  Education  was  neglected,  and 
the  University  had  been  allowed  to  fall  into  decay, 
till  Innocent  VII.  restored  it  in  1406  ;  even  then  it  did 
not  prosper.  On  the  other  hand,  medicine  always 
flourished,  and  we  hear  of  distinguished  Jewish 
practitioners  who  attended  on  the  Popes  and  received 
the  freedom  of  the  city  from  the  Senate.  Literature 
naturally  declined  during  this  barbarous  period.  A 
few  mediaeval  annals  and  diaries,  the  best  of  them  not 
the  work  of  Romans,  represent  the  literar}'  output  of 
the  time.  As  for  art,  the  absence  of  the  Popes  was 
c]uite  sufficient  to  account  for  its  degenerate  condition. 
The  one  striking  architectural  achievement  of  the 
Avignon  era  was  the  steps  up  to  Aracoeli,  to  which 
allusion  has  already  been  made.  The  absent  Popes 
spent  all  they  had  on  their  palace  on  the  Rhone,  and 
spared  as  little  as  possible  for  absolutely  necessary 
repairs  of  public  buildings  on  the  Tiber.  Thus  the 
roof  of  St.  Peter's  had  to  be  replaced  by  one  which 
would  keep  out  the  rain,  and  the  basilica  of  the 
Lateran  was  restored.  John  XXIII.  joined  the 
Vatican  with  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo  by  means 
of  a  covered  passage,  and  Boniface  IX.  converted   the 


l66  THR    RF.TURM    OF    THE    PAPACY 

senatorial  palace  into  a  fortress — both  indications  of 
the  object  which  the  Popes  had  in  encouraging  archi- 
tecture in  that  unsettled  age,  when  civil  war  was  the 
main  occupation  of  all  classes,  and  no  mansion  was 
secure  unless  it  was  also  a  castle. 

More  luxurious  modes  of  living  had  been  introduced 
by  the  French,  and  the  style  of  dress  changed. 
Roman  ladies  wore  dresses  which  we  should  now 
call  librenient  decolletces,  and  their  ornaments  were 
most  costl}'.  Sumptuar}'  laws  were  unavailing  to 
check  the  growing  extravagance  of  the  women, 
though  the}'  had  less  money  to  spend  at  Rome  than 
in  some  other  Italian  cities.  But  where  the  Romans 
excelled  all  other  people  was  in  the  splendour  of 
their  public  exhibitions.  For  in  the  Middle  Ages,  as 
in  the  time  of  the  earh'  Fmpire,  "  bread  and  games  " 
were  the  two  main  demands  of  the  Roman  populace. 
Nor  had  the  tastes  of  the  citizens  greatly  improved 
since  the  days  of  those  wild-beast  shows  which  Cicero 
found  so  boring  and  his  contemporaries  so  entertaining. 
We  read  of  a  great  bull-fight  given  in  1332  by  the 
Roman  nobles  in  the  Colosseum  at  which  ladies  of 
the  best  families  were  present  and  applauded  the 
knightl}-  toreadors,  who  bore  their  dames'  devices 
and  colours  on  their  helmets.  On  this  occasion  no 
less  than  eighteen  of  the  noble  bull-fighters  were 
gored  to  death — a  list  of  casualties  about  equal  to 
that  of  nine  years'  bull-fighting  in  modern  Spain. 
Every  year,  at  carnival  time,  Monte  Testaccio  and 
the  Piazza  Navona  were  the  scenes  of  popular  sports, 
where  the  mob  scrambled  for  pigs,  which  the  Jews 
were    forced   to   provide,  chased    fat    oxen,  and  ran 


puBr.ic  SHOWS  167 

races.  On  one  occasion  the  crucifixion  of  St.  Peter 
and  the  beheadal  of  St.  Paul  were  represented  on 
Monte  Testaccio  at  Easter,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
still  surviving  processions  in  Holy  Week  at  Seville 
and  Murcia,  and  passion-pla}-s  were  commonly  given 
in  the  Colosseum,  That  famous  edifice  had  greatl}' 
suffered  from  being  used  as  a  quarry,  and  even  the 
Senate  gave  consent  to  such  acts  of  vandalism.  As 
for  the  Forum,  which  in  the  last  ten  \'cars  has  been 
so  greatly  excavated,  it  la}'  unrecognisable  beneath 
heaps  of  rubbish  and  a  rich  undergrowth,  while  a 
row  of  houses  stretched  from  the  Arch  of  Titus  to 
the  Arch  of  Severus,  and  swine  devoured  refuse  on 
every  side  of  those  monuments.  The  hills  were 
abandoned  to  fever  and  desolation,  except  for  an 
occasional  chapel  or  monastery,  and  the  Campagna 
was  as  deserted  as  it  is  to-day,  save  when  in  winter 
the  herdsmen  of  the  Abruzzi  came  down  there  to 
pasture  their  flocks  of  sheep.  Poggio  Bracciolini, 
the  eminent  man  of  letters,  who  has  left  us  a 
description  of  Rome  as  she  was  in  the  first  third 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  might  well  mourn  the 
external  appearance  of  the  city  as  he  knew  her, 
and  which  differed  from  la  terza  Roma  of  our  own 
time  almost  as  much  as  from  the  Imperial  Rome  of 
the  first  centurx'  after  Christ. 


VII 


THE   AGE   OF   /ENE.'XS   SYLVIUS 


When,  in  1420,  Martin  V.  entered  Rome,  his  first 
care  was  to  endeavour  to  raise  the  city  from  the 
condition  into  which  it  had  fallen.  The  people 
welcomed  the  efforts  of  one  who  had  the  great 
qualification  of  being  himself  a  Roman,  and  Martin, 
in  return  for  their  support,  allowed  the  mimicipal 
constitution  to  subsist  in  its  traditional  form,  and 
had  the  privileges  of  the  cit\'  collected  and  published. 
Remembering  that  thirt}--three  years  were  the  life 
of  Our  Lord,  he  proclaimed  the  fifth  "  Hoi)-  Year"  in 
1423,  reckoning  from  the  a//;n^  santo  of  1390,  and 
ignoring  in  his  turn  that  of  ten  }-ears  later.  At  the 
same  time  he  resumed  the  old  papal  prerogative  of 
coining  money,  which  had  been  so  long  exercised  by 
the  Senate.  He  set  himself  to  work  to  repair  the 
roads  and  pave  the  streets,  encouraged  his  fellow- 
citizens  in  their  building  operations,  and  urged  the 
Cardinals  to  restore  all  the  parish  churches.  He 
rebuilt  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  and  made 
out  of  an  adjoining  palace  a  residence  for  himself; 
he  put  a  new  roof  of  lead  on  the  Pantheon,  executed 

J6,S 


170  THE    AGE    OE   .ENEAS.    S.  VTA' [US 

repairs  at  St.  Peter's  and  the  Vatican,  and  spent 
much  money  on  the  pavement  of  the  Lateran  basilica. 
One  or  two  robbers'  nests  in  the  Campagna  were 
destro}'ed  by  his  commands,  and  b}'  firmness  he 
managed  to  keep  order  in  the  city.  But  he  marred 
his  pontificate  by  the  besetting  sin  of  the  mediaeval 
Papacy.  Partly  for  his  own  security,  partly  from  a 
feeling  of  kinship,  he  set  a  bad  example  of  unrestrained 
nepotism  which  his  successors  followed.  In  order  to 
enrich  his  own  famil)-,  he  saved  all  that  he  could,  to 
the  scandal  of  his  contemporaries,  and  he  bestowed 
the  property  of  the  Church  on  his  nephews  without 
consulting  the  Cardinals.  But  a  centur}'  later  it  Mas 
said  of  him  that  he  had  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
greatness  of  the  Papac}-  and  restored  a  golden  age 
of  peace  and  unit}^  to  the  Church.  He  ruled  justly, 
and  Rome  made  material  progress  under  his  swa}'. 
The  cit}'  began  to  be  civilised,  and  faction  fights 
almost  entirel)'  ceased.  Not  without  reason  did  his 
famil}'  inscribe  on  his  bronze  tomb  in  the  Lateran  : 
"  He  was  the  happiness  of  his  times."  The  death  of 
the  great  condottiere,  "  Strongarm,"  enabled  him  to 
restore  the  authority  of  the  Church  throughout  the 
Papal  States  and  his  creation  of  new  Cardinals,  all 
men  of  culture  and  abilit}',  raised  the  prestige  of  the 
College.  His  one  terror  was  the  assembling  of  another 
council  of  the  Church,  which  he  was  constantl}'  urged 
to  summon,  and  which  he  avoided  b}'  a  timel\'  death 
in  1431. 

His  successor,  PLugenius  IV.,  was  no  sooner  on  the 
throne  than  he  reaped  the  full  results  of  his  pre- 
decessor's nepotism.     The  riches  accumulated  b\'  the 


CORONATION   OF  SIGISMUND  \'J\ 

Colonna  under  Martin's  auspices  were  regarded  by 
their  enemies  as  fair  plunder  now  that  Martin  was 
dead.  The  bad,  old  days  of  party  faction  returned. 
The  Colonna  attacked  the  city,  and  the  papal  troops 
retaliated  by  breaking  into  their  mansions.  i\  plot 
was  discovered  against  the  Pope's  life,  and  numbers 
of  persons  expiated  their  real  or  alleged  guilt  on  the 
scaffold  or  in  prison.  When  at  last  this  civil  war 
was  over,  the  spectre  of  reform  once  more  arose  to 
terrif}'  the  Pope,  and  this  time  it  was  impossible  to 
put  off  the  dreaded  council. 

Eugenius,  with  utter  want  of  tact,  set  all  Europe 
against  him  by  ordering  the  assembly  to  move  from 
Bale  to  Bologna.  The  Council  replied  by  summoning 
him  to  make  his  defence  before  it.  For  the  moment 
it  seemed  as  if  the  Pope  would  have  to  submit  or 
lose  his  throne,  l^ut  the  ambition  of  Sigismund,  the 
German  sovereign,  to  be  crowned  as  Emperor  in  Rome 
by  the  Pontiff,  emboldened  the  latter  to  try  to  make 
terms  more  favourable  to  himself  than  he  could 
otherwise  have  obtained.  Sigismund  promised  to 
use  his  influence  with  luirope,  so  that  Eugenius 
might  be  recognised  as  the  true  head  of  Christendom. 
Eugenius,  in  return,  crowned  his  patron  in  the 
Lateran  as  Emperor.  The  ceremony  was  far  inferior 
to  what  had  been  seen  at  former  coronations  ;  onh- 
a  few  hundred  men  escorted  the  P^.mperor,  and  the 
procession  lacked  nearly  all  the  elements  of  pomp 
and  grandeur.  But,  at  least,  there  was  none  of  that 
street-fighting  which  had  disgraced  so  man}'  imperial 
visits  to  Rome,  and  Sigismund  showed  a  praiseworthy 
zeal  in  devoting  some  time  to  the  sights  of  the  city 


1/2  THE    AGE    OF   .-ENEAS    SYLVIUS 

in  the  compein}^  of  an  eminent  archaeologist.  But 
though  Eugenius  had  thus  won  the  sympathy  of  the 
Emperor,  there  were  others  who  had  old  scores  to 
pay  off,  and  who  began  to  attack  him  as  soon  as 
Sigismund  had  left.  Rough  condottieri,  styling  them- 
selves with  humour  "  the  executors  of  the  holy 
Council,"  about  which  they  cared  nothing,  seized  the 
opportunity  of  surrounding  Rome  and  ravaging  the 
papal  territory.  After  all,  the  Pope  thought  it 
prudent  to  recognise  the  supreme  authority  of  the 
Council,  and  in  order  to  weaken  the  united  forces  of 
the  hostile  condottieri,  committed  the  fatal  mistake, 
as  it  ultimately  proved,  of  appointing  the  most 
dangerous  of  them,  the  redoubtable  Francesco  Sforza, 
son  of  the  Sforza  mentioned  above,  his  vicar  in  the 
Marches  and  standard-bearer  of  the  Church.  This 
act  had  indirectly  important  consequences  for  the 
histor}'  of  Northern  Italy.  For  Francesco  Sforza 
used  his  position  as  papal  vicar  at  Ancona  as  a  step 
towards  further  aggrandisement,  and  in  1450  his 
schemes  were  crowned  with  success  b}'  his  proclama- 
tion as  Duke  of  Milan. 

The  Romans  had,  however,  grown  restive  under 
the  unsettled  state  of  affairs.  A  deputation  waited 
on  the  Pope,  and  requested  him  to  abandon  the 
temporal  power,  to  surrender  the  Castle  of  Sant' 
Angelo  to  the  people,  and  to  devote  himself  to 
religious  observances.  The  popular  indignation, 
deeply  stirred  by  the  destruction  of  the  farms  in 
the  Campagna  b}-  the  coftdotticri,  was  not  diminished 
by  the  scornful  reph'  of  the  Pope's  haughty  Venetian 
nephew,  who  treated  the  deputation  as  nothing  better 


FLIGHT   OF  BUG  EN  I  US   IV.  173 

than  a  lot  of  cow-keepers,  and  told  them  that  in 
Venice,  where  there  were  no  pastures,  the  inhabitants 
got  on  perfectly  well.  Such  was  the  interest  shown 
by  the  Papal  Court  in  the  agriculture  of  the  country  ! 
The  deputation  withdrew,  but  only  to  raise  the  cry 
of  "People!  people!  and  liberty!"  which  roused  the 
populace  to  a  revolution.  The  Republic  was  pro- 
claimed, and  the  Pope,  convinced  by  the  logic  of 
facts  that  the  temporal  power  was  only  a  burden, 
announced,  amidst  the  laughter  of  his  conc|uerors, 
that  his  one  desire  was  to  lay  it  down.  With  the 
aid  of  a  friendly  pirate  he  escaped  in  the  garb  of  a 
Benedictine  monk,  but  not  until  he  had  undergone 
indignities  such  as  few  men  in  his  position  have  been 
forced  to  endure.  There  is  something  strangely  in- 
congruous in  the  spectacle  of  a  High  Priest  of 
Christendom  bestriding  the  back  of  a  pirate  in  the 
Tiber  !  But  the  papal  adventures  did  not  end  there. 
The  people  on  the  bank  thought  that  there  was 
something  suspicious  about  the  haste  of  the  monk, 
whose  boatmen  were  rowing  as  if  their  lives  depended 
on  their  exertions.  A  hue  and  cry  was  raised  ; 
another  boat  was  launched  in  pursuit,  while  stones 
and  arrows  were  sent  after  the  retreating  skiff,  which 
carried  Eugenius  and  his  fortunes.  The  second  boat 
stuck  fast  in  the  gravel,  the  first  could  make  little 
headway  against  the  wind,  and  the  Pope  lay  cowering 
in  the  stern  under  a  shield,  more  like  an  escaped 
convict  than  a  Christian  potentate.  People  shouted 
from  the  bank,  offering  bribes  to  the  pirate-crew  to 
stop,  but  in  all  probability  the  Pope  offered  more. 
At  last  the  skiff  reached  the   broad  part  of  the  ri\er, 


174  THE   AGE    OF   .-ENEAS   SYLVIUS 

when  sudden  1}'  a  fishing-boat  shot  out  from  the  bank 
full  of  armed  men.  It  seemed  as  if  all  were  lost,  and 
the  pirate's  professional  instincts  determined  him  to 
ram  the  enemy's  craft  or  perish  in  the  attempt. 
Luckil)',  the  fishing-boat's  timbers  were  so  rotten 
that  her  crew  shrank  from  meeting  the  shock  of  the 
papal  stem,  and  the  Pope  and  his  oarsmen  glided 
down  stream  uninjured,  till  at  last  the  tower  of  Ostia 
came  in  sight.  Then  Eugenius  boarded  the  pirate- 
brig,  which  lay  in  wait  for  him,  and  in  this  undignified 
manner  reached  Florence  in  safety,  where  he  took 
refuge  at  Sta.  Maria  Novella.  Fortunately  for  the 
Papacy,  this  was  the  last  example  of  a  flight  from 
Rome  till,  four  centuries  later,  Pius  IX.  escaped  from 
the  Republicans  to  Gaeta. 

Eugenius  had  not  been  long  gone,  when  the 
Romans  found  their  Republican  governors  worse  than 
the  Pope.  They  begged  him  to  return,  but  he 
decided  to  stay  on  at  Florence  and  to  send  instead 
one  of  those  fighting  bishops  who  were  such 
characteristic  figures  in  the  Middle  Ages.  This 
papal  legate,  Vitelleschi  by  name,  was  notable  even 
among  the  members  of  the  Church  militant  for 
his  harshness  and  cruelty.  But  he  did  his  work 
thoroughly,  and  made  the  petty  tyrants  of  the 
Campagna  feel  the  full  weight  of  his  hand.  xA.s  a 
reward  for  these  righteous  acts  he  was  promoted  to 
be  an  Archbishop  and  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  and 
then  continued  his  campaign  against  the  Roman 
nobles  in  truly  patriarchal  fashion.  One  stronghold 
after  another  in  the  Alban  mountains  fell  before  him, 
and  Mas  levelled  with  the   dust  ;  even   Palestrina,  the 


CAREER    OF    VITELLESCHI  175 

seat  of  the  Colonna,  succumbed,  and  that  great 
family,  latel}^  so  powerful,  was  smitten  as  even 
Cola  di  Rienzo  had  never  smitten  it.  Workmen  were 
summoned  from  Rome  to  pull  down  the  houses  and 
walls  of  Palestrina,  and  devastation  was  spread  far 
and  wide  over  Latium.  More  than  thirty  towns  lay 
in  ruins,  and  the  miserable  condition  of  the  Campagna 
became  morewTetched  still.  xA.t  Rome  itself  this  new 
"scourge  of  God  "  was  received  as  a  hero,  and  hailed 
as  "  the  father  of  the  city  "  ;  a  public  monument  was 
decreed  to  him  on  the  Capitol  with  the  fulsome 
inscription,  "  to  the  third  father  of  the  city  of 
Romulus  after  Romulus  "  ;  all  the  inhabitants  of  his 
native  town  were  declared  Roman  citizens,  and  a 
silver  goblet  was  to  be  offered  up  to  St.  Louis  on  each 
anniversary  of  Palestrina's  fall.  But  his  ascendency 
was  of  short  duration.  His  enemies  accused  him, 
probabl}-  with  reason,  of  aiming  at  the  supremacy 
over  all  the  States  of  the  Church,  and  the  Pope 
believed  the  accusation.  An  order  was  issued  for  his 
arrest,  and,  as  he  was  riding  unsuspectingly  over  the 
bridge  of  Sant'  Angelo,  the  portcullis  was  suddenly 
let  down  behind  him  and  he  was  caught  like  a  mouse 
in  a  trap.  The  Patriarch  defended  himself  till  he  was 
overpowered,  for  he  knew  that  he  was  too  important 
a  man  to  be  set  at  liberty.  His  death  speedily 
ensued,  from  poison,  it  was  said,  and  his  body  was 
exposed  to  the  gaze  of  the  people  whose  master  he 
had  so  lately  been.  His  career  was  used  in  a 
contemporary  pamphlet  as  a  proof  of  the  cruelty  of 
priestly  rule  :  but  it  may  be  said  in  his  excuse,  that 
nothing  but  vi":orous   measures  could   ha\e  subdued 


176  THE   AGE    OF  .ENEAS    SYLVIUS 

the  savage  tyrants  of  those  times.  A  practical 
Roman  chronicler  naively  remarked  that  he  might 
have  been  a  monster,  but  at  any  rate  "  he  kept  us  all 
in  order  and  in  prosperity ;  as  long  as  he  lived  corn 
cost  twelve  carlini ;  after  his  death  it  rose  in  fifteen 
days  to  twenty-two."  Even  the  Pope  thought  it 
prudent  to  treat  his  death  as  a  regrettable  accident  in 
which  he  had  had  no  personal  share. 

Meanwhile  Eugenius  had  again  shown  his  distrust 
of  the  Council  of  Bale,  and  seized  the  thorny  question 
of  the  reunion  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  Churches 
as  an  excuse  for  summoning  the  assembly  to  meet  in 
a  place  more  convenient  to  the  Byzantine  theologians. 
He  selected  Ferrara,  and  there,  in  the  presence  of 
himself  and  John  Palaeologus  II.,  the  Greek  Emperor, 
the  nicest  and  sharpest  quillets  of  patristic  theology 
were  discussed,  while  the  Turks  were  thundering  at 
the  gates  of  Constantinople.  At  last  the  arms  of  the 
Ottomans  effected  what  all  the  learned  arguments  of 
theologians  had  failed  to  accomplish,  and  at  Florence, 
whither  the  Pope  had  transferred  the  Council,  the 
Byzantine  divines  knelt  down  at  his  feet,  admitted 
the  genuineness  of  \\\q  filioquc  clause,  listened  to  the 
Latin  mass,  and  kissed  the  hand  of  St.  Peter's 
successor.  But  this  union  was  at  once  disowned  in 
the  Orient  ;  and,  instead  of  having  really  united  the 
Churches  of  the  East  and  the  West,  Eugenius  found 
that  he  had  merely  created  a  new  schism  in  the 
latter.  For  the  rump-council  at  Bale  declared  him 
suspended  from  his  functions,  and  the  reforming 
section  among  its  members  elected  Amadeo  of  Savoy 
as  his  successor.       Even   amonij:  the  man\'  curicjsities 


./    DUKE    OF  SIJ'OY    AS    POPE  XJJ 

of  the  papal  annals,  this  election,  especially  if  viewed 
in  the  lii(ht  of  modern  Italian  history,  is  one  of  the 
most  extraordinar}'.  For  Amadeo  VIII.,  first  Duke 
of  Savoy,  was  the  founder  of  the  fortunes  of  that 
famous  dynasty,  which,  starting  from  humble 
beginnings  in  the  Alps,  has  in  our  own  time  unified 
Italy  and  destrox'ed  the  last  shred  of  the  Pope's 
temporal  dominion.  It  seems  almost  incredible  that 
an  ancestor  of  Vittorio  Emanuele  II.  should  have 
been  a  predecessor  of  Pius  IX.,  but  so  it  was.  The 
reforming  Cardinals  could  not,  indeed,  have  made  a 
better  choice,  for  Amadeo,  after  a  most  successful 
reign  over  his  duch}-,  had,  on  the  death  of  his  wife, 
abandoned  the  cares  of  government  to  his  sons,  and 
withdrawn  from  the  world  to  a  favourite  retreat  at 
Ripaille,  on  the  lake  of  Geneva.  There  he  had 
founded  the  knightl}'  order  of  St.  Maurice,  and  lived 
with  the  six  knights  of  the  order  in  splendid  seclusion. 
The  royal  hermit,  with  far  more  experience  of  the 
world  than  the  poor  recluse  of  the  Abruzzi  who  had 
played  such  a  sorry  figure  as  Celestine  V.,  accepted 
the  offer  of  the  papal  throne,  and  in  1440  announced 
his  accession  under  the  title  of  Felix  V.  But  the 
world,  which  had  not  forgotten  the  terrible  results 
of  the  former  schism,  shrank  from  the  prospect  of 
another.  England  would  have  none  of  the  ducal 
Pontiff.  German}'  remained  neutral,  and  only  the 
smaller  magnates  acknowledged  him  as  the  true 
Pope.  He  had  to  content  himself  with  Lausanne 
instead  of  the  Vatican,  for  he  never  had  the  least 
chance  of  conquering  Rome. 

In  that  cit\',  since  the  death  of  Vitelleschi,   there 


1/8  THE   AGE    OF   .^ENEAS   SYLVIUS 

had  been  a  great  decline  in  prosperity.  Order  was 
no  longer  maintained  in  the  streets,  and  church- 
breakers,  clerics  themselves,  stole  the  jewels  out  of  the 
coverings  which  enclosed  the  heads  of  the  Apostles. 
The  Romans  begged  Eugenius  to  return,  and  at  last 
he  did  so.  But  he  could  not  help  contrasting  the 
forlorn  appearance  of  his  capital  with  the  prosperity 
of  Florence,  then  the  first  of  all  Italian  cities. 
"  Rome,"  wrote  his  biographer,  "  had  become,  by 
reason  of  the  Pope's  absence,  like  a  village  of 
herdsmen  ;  sheep  and  cows  wander  about  the  city." 
The  wretched  condition  of  the  people  and  the 
tyrannical  measures  that  had  been  considered  necessary 
to  the  preservation  of  peace,  were  demonstrated  b)' 
the  heads  and  quartered  bodies  of  criminals,  which 
were  left  to  rot  on  the  gates  or  in  cages,  like  the 
bloody  trophies  on  old  Temple  Bar.  No  wonder  that 
the  Pope  felt  grieved  at  the  sight  of  so  much  misery, 
and  longed  to  be  back  again  in  the  polite  Florentine 
societ}-.  But  he  saw  the  advantage  which  his 
residence  in  Rome  would  give  him  in  his  struggle 
against  the  Council  of  Bale  and  the  anti-Pope  at 
Lausanne.  The  defection  of  German}'  from  the 
reform  party,  in  consequence  of  the  vanity  and 
avarice  of  Frederick  III.,  who  desired  the  empt}' 
honour  of  being  crowned  Emperor  by  the  Pope  and 
accepted  a  paltry  sum  in  cash  from  the  papal  legate, 
was  a  great  stroke  of  fortune  for  P^ugenius,  and 
delayed  the  Reformation  in  German}-  for  three- 
quarters  of  a  centur}'.  The  envo}-s  of  Frederick, 
one  of  them  the  talented  diplomatist,  ^'Eneas  Sylvius 
Piccolomini,    afterwards    Pope    himself,    arrived    in 


DEATH   OF  EUGENIUS    //'.  1/ 

Rome  in  1446  to  conclude  a  formal  concordnt 
between  their  master  and  the  Church.  Their 
arrival  aroused  the  greatest  interest  in  the  city,  for 
it  was  felt  that  the  return  of  the  German  sovereign 
to  the  true  fold  Mas  no  ordinary  occurrence.  The 
clergy  went  out  in  a  body  to  meet  them  at  the 
first  milestone  in  the  Campagna;  the  Pope  received 
them  with  favour  ;  the  Cardinals  sent  all  the 
delicacies  of  the  season  to  the  mansion  on  the  Capitol 
where  they  lodged.  The  negotiations  were  hastened 
by  the  illness  of  Eugenius,  but  their  validit)'  was 
somewhat  impaired  by  his  statement,  that  as  his 
judgment  had  been  clouded  by  the  bad  state  of  lu's 
health,  any  concessions  made  by  him  in  contravention 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Fathers  and  the  rights  of 
the  Holy  See  should  be  considered  as  null  and 
void.  With  this  proviso,  the  documents  were  signed 
and  sealed,  and  solemn  processions  celebrated  the 
event  which  cast  lustre  on  the  perplexed  pontificate 
of  Eugenius.  But  it  was  his  last  triumph.  He  felt 
his  end  approaching,  and  with  the  regret  that  he 
had  ever  been  Pope  and  the  advice  to  elect  a  man 
of  moderate  abilities  by  an  unanimous  vote  as  his 
successor,  he  passed  awa}'.  His  highest  praise  is 
that  he  was  free  from  nepotism,  but  he  was  hardly 
a  great  man.  Others  of  superior  talent  worked  for 
him,  and  he  received  the  credit  for  what  they 
achieved.  His  main  motive  was  a  desire  to  increase 
the  power  of  the  Minorites,  of  whom  it  was  said 
that  they  ''  swarmed  like  ants  around  his  throne." 
He  never  concealed  his  dislike  for  Rome,  and  the 
Romans  found  small  favour  with  him. 


l8o  THE   AGE    OF   .ENEAS   SYLTJUS 

luigenius  was  no  sooner  dead  than  a  democratic 
movement  broke  out,  which  reminds  us  of  the  days 
of  Cola  cU  Rienzo.  Its  leader  was  a  man  of  plebeian 
origin  and  equestrian  rank,  who  had  changed  his 
name  of  Porcaro  for  that  of  Porcius,  in  order  that 
he  might  claim  descent  from  the  family  of  that 
illustrious  Roman,  M.  Porcius  Cato.  Stefano  Porcaro 
was  full  of  magnificent  ideals,  but  of  small  practical 
ability.  He  had  held,  under  Martin  V.,  a  post  in 
Plorence,  had  travelled  abroad,  and  returned  to 
Rome,  whence  he  was  sent  by  Eugenius  to  administer 
the  office  of  podesta  at  Bologna.  After  discharging 
similar  functions  in  other  towns  of  the  Papal  States, 
and  gaining  the  admiration  of  scholars  by  his 
bombastic  orations  in  the  worst  style  of  C'icero,  he 
settled  clown,  to  await  events,  in  his  family  abode 
near  San  Giovanni  della  Pigna,  which  still  survives. 
The  death  of  his  patron,  Eugenius,  seemed  to  him 
to  be  a  propitious  moment  for  his  plans,  and  he 
availed  himself  of  a  meeting  in  the  Church  of 
Aracoeli  to  deliver  a  fiery  speech,  full  of  classical 
allusions,  on  the  degraded  condition  of  the  Romans 
under  that  priestl}'  t}'ranny  of  which  he  had  himself 
been  an  agent  elsewhere.  The  meeting  broke  up 
in  confusion  ;  but  fear  of  the  King  of  Naples,  who 
only  wanted  an  excuse  for  occup\'ing  the  city, 
postponed,  but  only  for  the  moment,  the  ambitious 
designs  of  the  new  tribune.  The  Cardinals  met 
undisturbed,  and,  following  the  advice  of  the  late 
Pope,  elected  as  his  successor,  under  the  style  of 
Nicholas  Y.,  a  man  of  no  conspicuous  position,  the 
son  of  a  surgeon  and  himself  a  former  tutor  in  the 


NICHOLAS    V.  l8l 

families  of  the  £:(reat.  But  if  Nicholas  was  not 
known  as  a  practical  man  of  affairs,  he  was  the 
most  learned  scholar  of  his  generation.  His  memory 
was  so  extraordinary  that  he  could  carry  in  his 
head  whole  volumes  of  poetry  and  philosophy. 
/Eneas  Sylvius,  no  mean  judge  of  such  matters, 
said  of  him  in  an  epigram  which  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  invented  at  modern  Oxford 
that  "  what  he  knew  not,  was  not  knowledge."  He 
had  collated  manuscripts,  and  arranged  libraries, 
and  had  lived  in  Florence,  the  most  learned  city  of 
that  age.  It  seemed  to  scholars  that  the  Utopian 
era  of  Plato  had  at  last  arrived,  when  philosophers 
should  be  kings,  or  kings  philosophers.  But  he 
was  no  mere  feeble  bookworm.  He  had  travelled 
in  England,  France,  and  Germany,  and  had  seen 
something  of  courts  and  councils.  Undistinguished 
in  appearance  he  certainly  was,  but  he  was  affable 
and  simple  in  his  tastes,  and  his  election  gave 
Rome  peace,  for  this  unpretending  student  was  the 
head  of  no  faction.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  that 
in  those  days  learning  was  more  valued  than  now 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  classics  was  in  that 
benighted  age  considered  a  better  preparation  for 
[)ublic  life  than  skill  in  outdoor  sports. 

Nicholas  reaped  the  results  of  his  predecessor's  last 
act.  The  schism  came  to  an  end  in  1449,  with  the 
abdication  of  Felix  V.,  who  was  rewarded  with  the 
empty  title  of  Cardinal  of  Sta.  Sabina,  and  died  two 
years  later  at  Geneva  after  a  career  absolutely  unique 
in  the  annals  of  the  Papacy  and  of  the  Hcjuse  of 
Savo\-.      The  Council  of  Bale  broke  up  ;  and  while 


152  THE   AGE    OF    ^NEAS   SYLVIUS 

all  clanger  to  the  Church  ceased  in  that  direction,  the 
new  Pope  won  the  favour  of  the  Romans  by  granting 
them  various  privileges,  the  most  practical  of  which 
was  the  exclusive  use  of  the  urban  tolls  for  urban 
purposes.  A  reform  of  the  whole  system  of  taxation 
in  the  Papal  States  was  his  next  endeavour  ;  he 
pleased  the  barons  by  permitting  the  restoration  of 
Palestrina  ;  and  cut  the  claws  of  Porcaro  by  giving 
him  a  post.  Exploits  such  as  these,  all  accomplished 
by  diplomacy  and  not  by  force,  fully  entitled  him  to 
celebrate  with  pride  the  Jubilee  of  1450,  which  found 
Italy  in  profound  peace  and  Rome  contented.  This 
sixth  anno  santo  was  a  complete  success  ;  such  vast 
crowds  of  pilgrims  flocked  to  the  city  that  the 
number  of  requisite  visits  to  the  two  Churches  had  to 
be  diminished.  Rome  seemed,  under  the  mild  sway  of 
such  a  Pope,  to  have  become  once  more  a  seat  of  all  the 
virtues,  and  the  pilgrims  did  not  come  empty-handed- 
Their  offerings  filled  the  treasury  ;  the  debts  of  the 
Curia,  incurred  by  the  wars  of  the  last  Pope,  were  paid 
off;  and  Nicholas  obtained  the  means  for  carr}'ing  out 
his  cherished  plan  of  building  new  edifices  worthy  of 
the  city's  great  traditions.  His  predecessor,  in  spite  of 
the  parlous  state  of  his  finances,  had  done  something 
to  improve  the  external  appearance  of  Rome.  He 
had  restored  many  churches,  including  St.  Peter's  ;  he 
had  made  the  plans  for  theerection  of  the  mint,  and  had 
effected  considerable  alterations  at  the  Lateran.  He 
had  ordered  the  booths  which  then  blocked  up  the 
approach  to  the  J^antheon  to  be  cleared  away,  one  or 
two  streets  to  be  properly  paved,  several  of  the  gates 
in  the  walls  of  the  city  to  be  repaired,  and  a  fixed 


IMPROVEMENTS   IN    THE    CITY  1 83 

sum  to  be  set  aside  every  year  for  the  restoration  of  the 
walls  themselves.  One  of  his  most  prominent 
Cardinals  had  laid  out  the  Campo  di  Fiore,  on  which 
cattle  then  grazed,  and  the  improvements  had  extended 
as  far  as  Ostia,  where  Eugtnius  had  strengthened  tlie 
castle.  But  Nicholas  V.  was,  as  he  has  justly  been 
called,  "  the  first  great  restorer  of  the  city."  He  cared 
for  nothing  but  collecting  books  and  building,  and  his 
main  idea  as  a  builder  was  to  make  Rome  an  endur- 
ing monument  of  the  Papac}'.  He  began  by  re- 
peopling  the  deserted  parts  of  the  city,  granting 
exemption  from  taxes  to  those  who  would  settle  there. 
Then  he  set  to  work  to  build,  and  whole  colonies  of 
workmen  flocked  into  the  gates  at  his  call.  Those  who 
can  remember  the  rage  for  building  which  seized  the 
Romans  in  the  early  years  after  1870  can  best  form  an 
idea  of  what  went  on  under  this  energetic  Pope.  Rome 
became  one  huge  stonemason's  yard  ;  contractors, 
just  as  after  1870,  rushed  down  from  the  north; 
speculation  was  rife,  and  huge  fortunes  were  made  b\' 
some,  lost  by  others,  and  anticipated  by  all.  Skilled 
artists  came  from  the  Lombard  towns,  and  the  road 
from  Tivoli  was  thick  with  waggons  bearing  stone  to 
Rome.  The  Pope,  who  felt  his  end  not  far  off,  would 
brook  no  delay  ;  everything  must  be  begun  at  once, 
and  half  a  dozen  great  improvements  were  carried  on 
at  the  same  time.  He  continued  his  predecessor's 
labours  on  the  city  walls,  and  the  Ponte  Nomentano 
still  bears  the  castellated  building  which  he  ordered 
to  be  placed  upon  it.  The  Capitol  was  fortified  anew  ; 
and,  warned  by  the  memory  of  those  Popes  who  had 
been    driven    from    Rome,    he    resolved    to    provide 


1 84 


THE   AGE    OF  .ENEAS   SYLVIUS 


against  such  a  contingency  for  the  future  by  the 
erection  of  strong  and  ample  works  of  defence.  He 
accordingly  removed  the  booths  which  then  stood  on 
the  bridge  of  Sant'  Angelo,  built  towers  on  the  side 
walls   of  the   adjoining  castle    to    command    it,   and 


rt)\TE    XUMENTAXl). 

[Fvoui  a  photo,  by  Mrs.  ■Miller. 


strengthened  that  great  papal  fortress.  He  drew  up 
the  most  elaborate  plans  for  the  improvement  of  the 
Borgo,  which  was  to  have  been  converted  into  an 
invincible  stronghold,  and   also  an  abode  of  luxur)-. 


RESTORATION   OF   CHURCHES  I  85 

Most  important  of  all  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
modern  visitor,  he  planned  the  erection  of  a  new 
St.  Peter's  on  the  site  of  the  old,  a  building  which 
was  to  be  in  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross  and  the  excuse 
for  which  he  found  in  the  shaky  condition  of  part  of 
the  existing  fabric.  But  at  his  death  very  little  of 
this  new  building  had  been  finished,  and  we  shall  see, 
later  on,  how  one  of  his  successors  took  up  the  idea, 
and  how,  after  long  years  of  labour,  it  was  at  last 
accomplished.  His  restoration  of  other  churches 
was  more  effectual  ;  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  San 
Lorenzo- fuori-le-mura,  and  San  Paolo,  all  benefited 
by  his  work.  He  rebuilt  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatori 
on  the  Capitol,  and  first  adorned  the  effluent  of  the 
Aqua  Virgo  with  the  Trevi  fountain,  so  called  from 
the  three  roads  {tre  vie),  which  met  there.  But  the 
fountain,  as  it  now  stands,  was  the  creation  of  a  later 
Pontiff.  With  pride,  he  had  a  medal  minted  with  the 
in.scription  Roinafclix,  and  Rome  was,  indeed,  "happy" 
in  having  one  who  cared  much  for  the  appearance  of 
her  great  buildings.  But  there  were  not  wanting 
critics  who  thought  tliat  the  money  which  he  spent 
on  bricks  and  mortar  would  have  been  better  em- 
ployed in  defending  Constantinople  against  the 
Turks.  At  any  rate,  it  was  better  spent  than  in  the 
orgies  of  the  Borgias  and  the  frivolities  of  the  tenth 
Leo. 

The  Jubilee  passed  a\va\',  marred  onl}'  by  a  panic 
which  occurred,  owing  to  the  stampede  of  a  mule, 
on  the  bridge  of  Sant'  Angelo  and  caused  the 
fall  of  eighty-seven  persons  into  the  Tiber,  and  by 
the  spread  of  the  plague  which  was  greatl\-  favoured 


1 86  THE   AGE    OF  .ENEAS    SYLVIUS 

by  the  dirt  and  numbers  of  the  pilgrims.^  As  soon 
as  the  plague  had  abated,  the  diplomatic  Piccolomini 
came  to  Rome  to  complete  the  negotiations  for  the 
coronation  of  Frederick  III.  as  Emperor,  an  event 
memorable  as  the  last  of  that  long  series  of  Imperial 
pilgrimages  to  Rome.  Outside  the  gates  of  Siena 
Frederick  met  his  affianced  bride,  a  Portuguese  prin- 
cess who  had  come  there  to  be  married  to  him  at 
Naples.  Accompanied  by  Piccolomini,  to  whom  he 
foretold  on  the  way  his  future  election  to  the  Papacy, 
he  proceeded  to  Rome,  and  on  March  9,  1452,  entered 
the  city  with  his  fiancee.  The  Pope,  suspicious  of 
what  might  happen,  had  taken  the  precaution  of 
occupying  the  streets  and  squares  with  troops,  and 
awaited  the  distinguished  pair  on  the  steps  of  St. 
Peter's.  Ten  days  later  the  ceremony  was  performed 
in  that  building,  and  then  the  newly-crowned  Kaiser 
made  a  host  of  new  knights.  The  ceremonies  ended 
with  a  great  oration  of  Piccolomini  against  the  Turks, 
which  had  no  effect  whatever  in  delaying  the  triumph 
of  that  great  man,  Mohammed  II.  P'ourteen  months 
after  a  Western  Emperor  was  for  the  last  time  crowned 
in  Rome,  the  last  Eastern  Emperor  succumbed  at 
Constantinople. 

Moreover,  while  Nicholas  V.  was  being  urged  to 
preach  a  new  crusade  against  the  Turks,  his  own 
career  was  threatened  in  his  own  capital  by  his  own 
subjects.  Porcaro,  who  had  been  banished  to 
Bologna,     now     secretly     returned     to    Rome,    and 

'  Similarly  after  the  arrival  of  ihc  riedmontesc  pilgrims  in  1900,  the 
cases  of  influenza,  which  had  hithertu  made  little  havoc  in  Rome,  rose 
to  60,000  in  one  week. 


1 88  THE   AGE    OF  .ENEAS   SYLVIUS 

appeared  in  a  magnificent  costume  as  the  saviour  of 
the  citizens  from  clerical  rule.  In  a  series  of  carefully- 
prepared  impromptus  he  described  the  well-meaning 
Pope  as  a  tyrant  and  himself  as  a  hero  of  the  ancient 
mould.  The  plunder  of  the  papal  treasury  was  a 
more  potent  argument  to  his  fellow-conspirators  than 
appeals  to  Republican  virtue,  and  it  was  not  for- 
gotten that,  even  in  the  palmiest  days  of  the 
Republic,  patriotic  conspiracies  had  not  been  un- 
profitable speculations.  There  were,  indeed,  grave 
abuses  in  the  government  of  the  city,  the  Cardinals, 
in  particular,  being  deservedly  unpopular  ;  but  the 
motives  of  the  revolutionists  were  probably  mixed. 
The  success  of  his  scheme  seemed  to  Porcaro  certain, 
for  the  city  was  in  a  state  of  profound  peace,  and  he 
had  a  small,  but  apparently  sufficient,  bod}'  of 
mercenaries  at  his  command.  It  was  decided  to  set 
fire  to  the  stables  of  the  Vatican  during  the  feast  of 
the  Epiphanv',  and,  in  the  confusion  which  was 
expected  to  follow,  to  seize  the  Pope  and  the 
Cardinals.  Nicholas's  life,  except  in  case  of  extremity, 
was  to  be  spared,  but  the  chief  conspirator  carried 
about  with  him  a  golden  chain,  with  which  to  bind 
the  Pope's  wrists.  At  a  critical  moment,  however, 
the  plot  was  discovered,  and  the  house  of  Porcaro 
invested.  The  new  Cola  di  Rienzo,  with  a  cowardice 
worthy  of  his  prototype,  slipped  out  of  the  back  door 
without  a  single  blow,  and  hid  in  the  abode  of  one  of 
his  sisters.  An  associate  betra}'ed  his  hiding-place, 
where  he  was  found  concealed  in  a  box.  Without  loss 
of  time  he  was  hanged  in  one  of  the  towers  of 
the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo,  his  house  was  partially 


CONSPIRACY   OF  PORCARO  I  89 

clestro}'ecl,  and  mail}'  of  his  fellow-conspirators  shared 
his  fate.  The  conspiracy  of  1453  excited  more  alarm 
than  was  necessary,  for  Porcaro  was  not  the  man  to 
lead  a  successful  revolution.  But  some  regarded 
him,  in  spite  of  his  sorry  ending,  as  a  martyr,  and  so 
recently  as  1866  a  pamphlet  written  by  him,  in  which 
he  demanded  the  secularisation  of  Rome,  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Senate,  and  a  plebiscite  on  the  question  of 
union  with  the  rest  of  Italy,  was  circulated  as  a  party 
weapon. 

The  fall  of  Constantinople,  which  followed  Porcaro's 
conspiracy  at  a  short  interval,  was  a  severe  shock  to 
the  Pope,  whose  sole  practical  effort  to  prevent  it — 
the  despatch  of  twenty-nine  ships — was  too  late  to 
be  of  the  slightest  service.  Nicholas  had  the  scanty 
satisfaction  of  joining  in  a  national  league  against  the 
Turks  in  1455,  and  then  he  died.  Around  his  death- 
bed stood  the  Cardinals  to  hear  his  last  injunctions. 
He  told  them  that  all  that  he  had  done,  the  books 
that  he  had  bought,  the  buildings  that  he  had  erected, 
had  not  been  for  his  own  glory  but  for  that  of  the 
Church.  He  had  been  free  from  the  sins  of  most  of 
his  predecessors,  and  in  the  history  of  learning  he  has 
retained  an  assured  reputation  as  the  founder  of  the 
Vatican  library,  in  which  his  own  happiest  moments 
were  spent.  He  had  in  his  employ  a  whole  army  of 
copyists,  whose  business  it  was  to  transcribe  manu- 
scripts, and  one  of  his  first  cares,  on  the  fall  of 
Constantinople,  was  to  send  agents  to  Greece  for  the 
purchase  of  valuable  documents.  To  his  energ)',  too, 
the  Italians  owed  the  translation  of  the  chief  Greek 
historians  and  philosophers,  for  he  paid  handsomely 


1 90  THE    AGE    OE  .-ENEAS   SYWIUS 

for  such  work,  and  the  best  scholars  of  the  time  were 
glad  to  undertake  it  for  him.  Nor  should  Scotland 
forget  that  it  was  he  who  started  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  the  450th  anniversary  of  whose  foundation 
has  been  celebrated  during  the  present  year.  Yet, 
with  all  his  learning  and  his  great  position,  he  regretted 
that  he  had  been  Pope.  His  remains  repose  in  the 
crypt  of  the  Vatican,  where  a  stone  figure  on  a  plain 
sarcophagus  is  a  suitable  monument  of  this  simple 
student  whom  an  adverse  fate  placed  on  the  papal 
throne. 

His  successor,  who  styled  himself  Calixtus  HI., 
belonged  to  the  Spanish  family  of  Borgia,  which  has 
won  such  a  terrible  name  in  the  history  of  the  latter 
half  of  the  fifteenth  and  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth 
centur}\  Yet  the  first  Borgia  Pope  was  not  a 
monster,  nor  had  his  ancestors  been  specially  dis- 
tinguished for  their  evil  qualities.  The  family 
derived  its  name  from  the  little  town  of  Borja,  which 
had  been  given  to  the  founder  of  the  line  by  one  of 
the  Spanish  kings.  The  Borgia  were  found  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  at  Jativa  near 
Valencia,  which  latter  see  they  long  monopolised. 
Up  to  that  time  their  celebrity  had  been  pure!}'  local, 
but  the  election  of  their  relative  to  the  papal  chair  at 
once  gave  them  European  renown  and  caused  them 
to  anticipate  a  great  future.  The  first  jurist  of  his 
time,  Calixtus  was  racked  with  gout,  and,  as  he  was 
on  the  verge  of  fourscore  at  the  time  of  his  election, 
he  had  not  the  strength  to  do  much  during  his  brief 
pontificate.  Most  of  his  time  he  spent  in  bed,  but  )'et 
he    never    lost    sight    of  his    two   main    objects — the 


THE    FIRST   BORGIA    POPE  I9I 

advancement  of  his  family  and  the  defeat  of  the 
Turks.  He  blamed  his  predecessor  for  having  spent 
money  that  might  have  been  used  in  levying  troops 
against  the  infidel,  on  books  and  buildings  ;  he  issued 
fier}'  appeals  to  the  Christian  world  to  subscribe 
to  the  holy  war.  His  emissaries  travelled  in  all 
directions,  not  to  collect  manuscripts,  but  to  collect 
funds.  At  his  orders,  the  jewelled  bindings  of  the 
books  in  the  Vatican  library  were  sold  and  the  pro- 
ceeds devoted  to  the  war  chest.  By  dint  of  such 
sacrifices  he  managed  to  fit  out  a  flotilla  in  the  Tiber, 
which,  however,  accomplished  very  little.  The  Great 
Powers  did  not  support  him  ;  they  were  jealous  of 
each  other  as  they  always  have  been,  and  looked  on 
the  tithe  which  he  claimed  for  the  expenses  of  the 
war  as  merely  another  form  of  papal  exaction. 
Calixtus  himself  hindered  the  consolidation  of 
Christendom  against  the  common  foe  by  trying  to 
seat  one  of  his  nephews  on  the  throne  of  Naples  when 
it  became  vacant.  The  unbridled  nepotism  in  which 
he  indulged  was  of  the  utmost  injury  to  the  Church, 
for  he  thus  provided  the  members  of  the  Borgia  famil}- 
with  positions  from  which  it  was  afterwards  hard  to 
dislodge  them,  except  by  violence.  These  foreigners 
from  Valencia  invaded  Rome,  and  brought  the 
Spanish  manners,  and  even  the  Spanish  accent,  into 
fashion.  "  Valencia,"  it  was  said,  "  has  occupied 
the  Vatican  hill,"  and  though  that  city  was  not  in 
Cataluiia,  the  ominous  name  of  "  Catalans " — sug- 
gestive of  the  excesses  of  the  Catalan  Grand  Com- 
pany in  Greece — was  bestowed  upon  the  Borgia  clan. 
During  the  lifetime  of  their  patron  they  perverted 


192  TIIR    AGE    OF  /F.NF.AS   SYLVIUS 

justice,  and  took  the  law  into  their  own  hands  ;  their 
fortunes  seemed  assured.  Suddenl}^  however, 
CaHxtus  fell  ill,  and  in  an  instant  the  old  Roman 
nobles  rose  against  the  hated  "  Catalans."  His  death, 
in  1458,  was  the  signal  for  general  rejoicing ;  the 
mansions  of  the  Borgia  were  plundered  ;  Rome,  cried 
the  native  tyrants,  was  once  more  free. 

The  choice  of  the  Conclave  fell  upon  one  of  the 
most  talented  men  of  the  age  whose  name  shines 
out  even  now  from  among  those  of  most  mediaeval 
worthies.  Pius  II.  was  alread)'  known  over  all 
Europe  under  the  name  of  /Eneas  Sylvius  Picco- 
lomini.  We  have,  ere  this,  had  occasion  to  allude  to 
the  career  of  this  remarkable  diplomatist  who  now 
ascended  the  papal  throne.  The  son  of  a  Sienese 
noble  of  poor  means,  the  youthful  yEneas  had  been 
intended  for  the  study  of  the  law  at  Siena,  but 
he  abandoned  it  for  the  more  congenial  pursuit  of 
poetry.  Verses  in  imitation  of  Catullus  and  Petrarch 
flowed  from  his  pen  ;  and,  as  in  those  da}'s  a  good 
classical  scholar  was  sure  of  preferment,  ^E^neas, 
whose  character  was  not  much  stronger  than  that  of 
the  Virgilian  hero,  was  appointed  private  secretary 
of  a  Cardinal  who  chanced  to  visit  Siena.  The  next 
twenty  }'ears  he  spent  in  Germany,  where  he  gained 
valuable  experience  in  the  service  of  various  masters 
and  became  a  finished  man  of  the  world.  Eew  Popes 
have  ever  been  such  travellers  ;  he  extended  his 
journeys  to  England,  and  it  was  on  an  attempt  to 
reach  the  Orkneys  that  he  contracted  the  rheumatism 
which  never  left  him.  At  the  Council  of  Bale  he 
was    emplo}'ed    as    official    reporter  ;    then    he    was 


.■ENEAS    BECOMES    PIUS  193 

appointed  secretary  of  the  anti-Pope,  and  was 
crowned  as  Poet  Laureate  by  Frederick  III.  of 
Germany,  who  took  him  into  his  own  service.  Un- 
disturbed by  quahns  of  conscience,  he  had  no  hesita- 
tion in  changing  his  opinions  whenever  his  interests 
demanded  it,  and  the  gift  of  eloquence,  which  he 
possessed,  enabled  him  to  convince  his  critics  that  he 
had  always  been  in  earnest,  and  that  his  motives  had 
always  been  honest.  Sent  as  envoy  of  PVederick  to 
Eugenius  IV.,  he  disarmed  the  Pope  by  his  honeyed 
speech,  confessed  the  errors  committed  at  Bale,  and 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Holy  Father.  Under 
Nicholas  V.  he  became  a  bishop,  under  Calixtus  a 
Cardinal,  and  was  writing  the  history  of  Bohemia  when 
he  was  summoned  to  the  Conclave  which  elected  him 
Pope.  The  Romans  were  pleased  at  his  election,  and 
the  literary  men  of  the  day  showed  boundless 
enthusiasm,  not  unmixed  with  the  hope  of  future 
favours,  at  the  honour  conferred  on  one  of  them- 
selves. Even  reformers  might  expect  some  improve- 
ment under  a  Pope  who  had  placed  on  record  his 
opinion  that,  "  without  money  nothing  could  be 
obtained  from  the  Curia,"  and  had  sworn  at  his 
installation  to  reform  that  body  after  having  fought 
the  Turks.  But  Pius  II.  disappointed  both  his 
literary  and  his  clerical  supporters.  He  formally 
retracted  the  ideas,  which  he  had  promulgated  in 
his  writings  ;  "  Forget  that  1  was  ^'Eneas,"  he  cried, 
"  and  remember  that  I  am  Pius."  But  his  piety  did 
not  lead  him  to  espouse  the  career  of  a  serious 
reformer,  and,  though  his  life  as  Pontiff  was  blameless, 
he  was  not  a  really  great  man. 

14 


194  '^^P'    ■■^^"'P-    OP  .-ENEAS   SYLVIUS 

His  one  ideal  was  the  rescue  of  Constantinople  from 
the  Turks,  and  in  this,  at  least,  he  was  always  con- 
sistent. He  invited  the  Powers  to  send  delegates  to 
a  Congress  at  Mantua,  where  he  proclaimed  a  new 
crusade  against  the  Paynim,  and  at  the  same  time 
forbade  any  of  the  faithful  to  appeal  to  a  council  of 
the  Church.  Yet,  at  that  moment,  the  Turkish  Court 
was  probably  more  moral  than  the  papal  Curia,  and 
a  demand  might  well  have  been  made  for  a  reforming 
council,  when  a  high  dignitary  of  the  Church,  the 
subsequent  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  was  scandalising 
Sienese  society  by  his  frolics  with  the  married  ladies 
of  that  city.  In  Rome  itself  the  Court  poet  was 
struck,  as  Juvenal  had  been  in  his  day,  by  the  con- 
trast between  the  statues  of  the  ancients  and  the 
licentious  creatures  who  pretended  to  be  their 
descendants.  Republican  freedom  found  there  two 
unworthier  representatives  than  even  Porcaro  in  the 
persons  of  two  bandits,  Tiburtius  and  Valerianus,  who 
gathered  a  company  of  desperadoes  around  them, 
and  levied  blackmail  on  all  who  could  afford  to  pay 
it.  Pius  wrote  indignant  letters,  but  the  marauders 
cared  as  little  as  the  Turks  for  the  beauties  of  his 
Ciceronian  prose  ;  they  occupied  the  Pantheon,  and 
acted  as  masters  of  the  cit}'.  Then  I'ius  returned; 
Tiburtius  was  arrested  and  executed,  and  Rome  was 
quiet.  Even  the  turbulent  Campagna  was  reduced 
to  order,  and  Pius  was  able  to  spend  the  summer  at 
Tivoli  amid  those  mobilibiis  poniaria  rivis  which  had 
delighted  Horace.  Here  he  was  happy,  for  he  could 
stroll  about  in  the  company  of  scholars  among  the 
picturesque  towns  of  the   Sabine   Mountains,  reading 


CRUSADE    AGAINST    THE    TURKS 


195 


the  classics  or  meditating  on  that  description  of  Asia 
which  lay  on  his  desk. 

But  even  amid  the  sylvan  delights  of  Tivoli  he  did 
not  forget  the  Crusade  against  the  Turks.  Servia 
and  most  of  Bosnia,  the  Frank  Duchy  of  xVthens,  and 
nearly  all  the  Morea  fell  into  their  hands  before  the 
end  of  1463  ;  the  Empire  of  Trebizond  had  collapsed 


MEDAI,    (II     I'lUS   IT 


(From  "Die  iialiciiisclicii  Schaniiiiiiizcii  dcs  fuiifscUiitcti   Jahrliiin- 
(/cr/.s  (1430-1530)."     Voii  Julius  Fricdlacndcr.     Berlin,  1882.) 

two  years  earlier,  and  the  Albanian  hero,  Skanderbeg, 
and  the  still  more  heroic  Montenegrins,  seemed  alone 
able  to  keep  back  the  advance  of  the  enemy.^  The 
Pope,  fully  aware  of  the  approaching  danger,  con- 
ceived   the    strange    idea  of  converting    the    Sultan 

'   See  my  map,  Xo.  82  in  Mr.  R.  L.  Poole's  "  Historical  Geography 
of  Europe,"  showing  the  advance  of  ihe  (JUonian  power. 


196  THE    AGE    OF   .ENEAS   SYLVIUS 

to  Catholicism — an  idea  which  must  have  made 
Mohammed  II.  smile.  Pius  pointed  out  in  a  lengthy 
document  the  advantages,  temporal  no  less  than 
spiritual,  which  would  follow  such  a  conversion.  The 
Sultan  would  become  a  legitimate  sovereign,  and  be 
recognised  as  such  by  the  Pope.  The  erudite  Pius 
quoted  the  examples  of  many  converted  heathens  of 
whom  the  great  Turk  had  probably  never  heard,  but 
the  latter  was  not  influenced  by  those  authorities  nor 
yet  by  the  prospect  of  receiving  from  the  Pope  a 
sovereign  power  which  he  already  possessed.  Yet 
Pius  might  have  learned  from  some  of  the  refugees 
then  in  Rome  that  Mohammed  was  not  a  man  to  be 
easily  cajoled.  Among  these  was  the  Despot  Thomas 
Palaiologus,  who,  driven  from  the  Morea  by  the 
Sultan,  had  fled  to  Rome,  bringing  with  him  the 
head  of  St.  Andrew,  who  was  said  to  have  been 
crucified  at  Patras.  The  Despot  died  in  1465  in  the 
hospital  of  Santo  Spirito,  where  Pius  had  assigned 
him  accommodation  ;  the  famous  skull,  which  he  had 
bestowed  on  the  Church,  was  received  by  the  Pope 
with  extraordinary  ceremonies  on  the  spot  where  now 
stands  the  figure  of  the  Apostle  in  the  churchyard 
of  Sta.  Trinita  dei  Pellegrini.  The  eminent  Greek 
scholar,  Bessarion,  handed  the  precious  relic  to  Pius 
with  tears  in  his  eyes  ;  the  Pope  in  his  turn  wept, 
and,  apostrophising  the  skull,  bade  it  welcome  among 
the  Romans,  its  relatives,  "  the  nephews  of  St.  Peter." 
Then,  holding  it  aloft,  he  prayed  God  to  save  by  its 
instrumentality  suffering  Christendom  from  the  Turks, 
and  wlien  this  initial  ceremonial  was  over,  he  accom- 
panied it  in  solemn  procession  to  the  Vatican.     All 


THE    HEAD    OF  ST.    ANDREW  197 

Rome  was  in  the  streets  to  see  the  holy  head  go  by  ; 
the  houses  were  decked  with  flowers,  and  altars  were 
raised  in  honour  of  this  new  addition  to  the  city's 
curiosities.  Some  may  have  even  thought  the  loss 
of  Greece  more  than  counterbalanced  by  this  gain  to 
Rome.  At  last  the  head  was  deposited  in  the  Con- 
fessio,  where  Bessarion  besought  St.  Peter  to  avenge 
his  brother  Andrew's  sufferings.  It  seemed,  indeed, 
as  if  the  presence  of  the  relic  at  Rome  brought  luck 
to  the  Church.  A  month  after  its  arrival  alum  was 
discovered  in  enormous  quantities  among  the  moun- 
tains of  La  Tolfa  near  Civita  Vecchia.  It  was 
decided  to  devote  the  amounts  realised  by  the  sale 
of  this  valuable  commodity  to  the  crusade  against  the 
Turks,  and  Pius  urged  all  Christians  to  buy  their 
alum  from  him,  instead  of  purchasing  it  from  the 
infidels.  Down  to  the  last  centur)'  the  alum  of  La 
Tolfa  held  its  own,  and  furnished  a  considerable 
revenue  to  the  papal  treasury. 

Having  now  obtained  some  of  the  sinews  of  war, 
Pius  resolved  to  head  the  crusade  himself,  and  in  the 
middle  of  1464  he  set  out  for  Ancona,  where  he  pro- 
posed to  embark  for  the  East.  As  he  left  the  Eternal 
Cit}',  he  bade  it  farewell  for  ever,  for  he  felt  that  he 
would  never  see  it  again.  His  forebodings  proved 
true,  for  he  reached  Ancona  only  to  die  there.  In 
the  palace  which  adjoins  the  Cathedral  of  San  Ciriaco 
he  breathed  his  last,  his  face  turned  towards  that 
Orient  which  he  was  not  destined  to  conquer.  In  the 
whole  history  of  the  Papacy  no  Pope's  demise  is  quite 
so  pathetic  as  this.  Pius  had  set  himself  a  problem 
which  the  four  centuries  that  have  passed  since  then 


198  THE    AGE    OF  .^.NEAS   SYLVIUS 

have  failed  to  solve.  In  the  words  of  his  favourite 
author,  "  the  time  had  no  need  of  such  aid,  of  such 
champions."  A  feeble  Pontiff  and  a  reluctant 
Christendom  were  not  the  means  by  which  the 
greatest  of  all  questions  could  be  settled.  In  the 
Church  of  Sant'  Andrea  della  Valle  may  be  seen 
the  monument  of  the  dead  crusader,  for  it  was 
removed  there  from  the  old  Church  of  St.  Peter's 
later  on.  But  those  who  wish  to  see  memorials  of 
him  must  go  to  Siena  or  Pienza,  his  native  town, 
which  took  his  name  in  gratitude  for  his  gifts  to  it, 
rather  than  to  Rome.  All  that  he  built  in  St.  Peter's 
has  been  swept  away ;  but  he  erected  the  citadel  of 
Tivoli,  and  had  planned  the  deepening  of  the  Aniene 
and  the  dredging  of  the  harbour  of  Porto.  But  the 
best  memorial  of  Pius  II.  is  his  own  memoirs,  a  work 
which  embraces  the  period  1405-63,  and  is  considered 
a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  histor}'  of  the 
times.  P'or,  unlike  the  modern  nonentities  who 
compose  what  the\'  call  their  reminiscences,  the 
papal  author  had  something  really  worth  sa)-ing, 
and  said  it  very  pleasantl}\  He  was  a  man}'-sided 
man,  a  born  journalist,  like  Cicero,  who  was  ready 
with  a  mellifluous  page  at  a  moment's  notice  on  any 
subject  under  the  sun.  In  our  own  time,  with  his 
skill  and  his  title,  he  would  have  been  the  fortune  of 
a  monthly  review.  But  no  other  Pope  imitated  his 
example,  and  wrote  his  autobiography.  In  this 
respect,  as  in  much  else,  he  was  a  modern  man, 
who  seems  to  be  much  nearer  to  us  than  many  of 
the  later  Pontiffs.  His  historical  works  are  of  less 
value,  but  showed  at  least  a  wide  range  of  interests 


CHARACTER    OF  PIUS    II. 


199 


such  as  might  have  been  expected  from  an  author 
who  had  led  such  a  wanderhig  Hfe.  His  great  hte- 
rary  plan  of  describing  the  world  as  it  existed  in  his 
days  was  never  completed,  x^t  least  he  was  no 
hermit  in  a  cell,  no  "  prisoner  "  in  a  palace  and  a 
garden.  He  knew  men  and  things,  for  he  had  seen 
them  with  his  own  e}'es,  and  his  figure  is  unique  in 
the  long  series  of  Popes. 


VIII 


ROME    UNDER   SIXTUS    IV 


The  successor  of  Pius  II.  was  a  Venetian  Cardinal 
whose  chief  quality  was  his  personal  appearance,  of 
which  he  was  so  conscious  that  he  desired  to  call 
himself  as  one  former  Pope  had  done,  "  Formosus," 
or  "  the  beautiful,"  a  name  subsequently  altered  to 
that  of  Paul  II.  Pie  had  sworn  to  carry  on  the 
crusade  against  the  Turks,  to  reform  the  Curia,  to 
summon  a  council,  to  keep  the  number  of  Cardinals 
at  twenty-four  at  the  most,  and  to  appoint  only  one 
of  his  nephews  and  no  one  under  thirty  years  of  age 
to  that  dignit}'.  The  Cardinals,  in  their  desire  to 
limit  the  power  of  the  Papac)'  for  their  own  benefit, 
had  also  imposed  upon  him  the  necess-ity  of  summon- 
ing the  Holy  College  to  meet  twice  a  }'ear  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  how  far  these  provisions  had 
been  observed.  But  the  new  Pope  contrived  to  sub- 
stitute an  inaccurate  copy  of  this  document  for  the 
original,  and  then  contemptuously  tossed  it  into  a 
cupboard,  and  treated  it  as  so  much  waste-paper. 
His  one  mania,  when  once  he  had  become  Pope,  was 
pomp,  and  his  collection   of  jewels  would   have  done 


THE    ROMAN    CARNIVAL  20I 

credit  to  the  wife  of  a  modern  South  African 
milhonaire.  So  great  was  his  greed  of  trinkets  that 
he  upset  the  will  of  a  rich  Cardinal,  who  was  known 
to  possess  some  most  valuable  stones,  and  kept  the 
best  for  himself.  Yet  he  was  not  guilty  of  the  papal 
sin  of  nepotism,  and  was  more  wanton  than  cruel. 
The  populace,  true  to  the  classical  maxim,  he  amused 
and  fed,  erecting  barns  and  slaughter-houses  for  their 
benefit,  and  reviving  the  Carnival.  That  once  famous 
Roman  institution,  now  merely  a  shadow  of  its  former 
self,  owed  its  chief  glories  to  this  Pope,  who  used  to 
look  on  at  the  horse-races  and  the  contests  of  Jews 
and  others  from  his  balcony,  much  in  the  style  of  a 
Roman  Emperor.  At  the  close  of  these  competitions 
he  was  wont  to  entertain  the  people  in  front. of  the 
Palazzo  di  Venezia  which  he  built  and  where  he 
usuall)'  resided,  and  would  throw  coins  to  them  out 
of  the  windows. 

A  more  important  act  was  the  revision  of  the 
Roman  Communal  statutes,  which  was  completed 
in  1469,  and  regulated  the  civil  law,  the  criminal 
jurisprudence,  and  the  administration  of  the  cit}-.  It 
is  remarkable  that  this  luxurious  Pope  did  all  he 
could  in  these  statutes  to  prevent  extravagance 
among  his  subjects.  One  of  the  most  curious  inci- 
dents of  his  pontificate  was  the  prosecution  of  the 
Roman  Academ}',  a  bod}'  of  scholars  who  met  to  read 
papers  and  celebrate  the  birthday  of  the  cit}'  and 
other  historic  anniversaries.  Its  founder  was  a  Cala- 
brian  student,  Pomponius  La^tus,  a  sort  of  mediaeval 
Cato,  who  disbelieved  in  Christianity,  and  sought  to 
revive  the  pagan  form  of  worship,  at   least  in  theory. 


THE    ROMAN  ACADEMY  203 

Paul  detected  heresy  and  revolutionary  ideas  in  these 
academic  exercises,  with  which  his  predecessor  might 
have  had  a  sneaking  sympath}'.  Accordingly,  he 
ordered  the  arrest  of  a  number  of  academicians 
during  the  Carnival.  Pomponius  was  dragged  before 
the  Inquisition,  but  was  released,  after  recanting  his 
errors,  and  was  allowed,  under  certain  restrictions,  to 
resume  his  lectures.  Later  on,  after  the  death  of 
Paul,  the  Academy  was  restored  to  its  former  posi- 
tion. The  fears  of  the  Pope  had  been  increased  by 
the  news  that  the  Emperor  Frederick  III.  was  on  his 
way  to  Rome,  for  these  imperial  visits  were  always 
dreaded  b}'  the  Pontiffs.  It  was  admitted,  however, 
that  the  Pope  was  on  this  occasion  the  better  man  of 
the  two.  The  Kaiser  was  treated  with  politeness  but 
as  an  inferior  ;  the  seat  provided  for  him  was  lower 
than  that  of  the  Pope,  and  he  made  no  difficult)^ 
about  holding  the  papal  stirrup.  Another  visitor, 
whose  house  may  still  be  seen  near  the  Quirinale  in 
the  alley  which  bears  his  name  was  the  Albanian 
hero,  Skanderbeg.  He  had  come  to  obtain  Paul's  aid 
against  the  Turks,  but  the  Pope  did  nothing  to  carry 
out  the  bold  policy  of  his  predecessor.  In  147 1  he 
died  suddenl}^,  throttled,  it  was  said,  by  a  spirit  whom 
he  had  conjured  into  one  of  his  numerous  rings.  As 
his  successor  was  chosen  Francesco  della  Rovere,  the 
son  of  a  poor  skipper  of  Sa\-ona,  who  became  known 
in  history  as  Sixtus  IV. 

The  new  Pope  at  first  showed  signs  of  prosecuting 
the  crusade  against  the  Turks,  and  blessed  the  flags 
of  the  papal  galleys  in  St.  Peter's.  But  the  admiral 
was  chosen  not  for  his  skill  in  navigation,  but  for  his 


204  ROME    UNDER    SIXTHS    IV. 

knowledge  of  theology,  and  the  sole  trophies  of  his 
expedition  were  twenty-five  Turks  who  were  carried 
on  camels  through  the  streets  of  Rome.  Then  Sixtus 
turned  his  attention  to  the  more  profitable  task  of 
providing  snug  places  for  the  members  of  his  family. 
He  was  the  arch-nepotist  of  the  Papacy,  and  sanc- 
tioned the  system,  which  became  its  curse.  Most  of 
these  so-called  nephews  were  really  the  illegitimate 
children  of  the  Pontiffs,  and  their  quarrels  threw 
enormous  discredit  upon  the  papal  Court.  Italy  was 
often  convulsed,  and  the  Church  degraded,  for  the 
sake  of  some  worthless  bastard,  whose  ambition  used 
the  influence  of  the  Pontiff  as  the  best  means  of 
obtaining  temporal  power.  Under  Sixtus  Rome 
became  a  Ligurian  colony,  where  the  good  folk  of 
Savona  found  places  and  profit.  One  of  the  Pope's 
nephews  was  converted  by  a  stroke  of  his  uncle's  pen 
from  a  penniless  Franciscan  monk  into  the  greatest 
pluralist  of  the  age,  whose  excesses  were  the  public 
scandal  of  Rome.  His  reception  of  the  Princess 
Leonora  of  Aragon  outdid  anything  of  the  kind  that 
had  ever  been  seen  in  the  cit}'.  The  Piazza  dei 
Santi  Apostoli  was  covered  with  canvas  and  turned 
into  a  theatre  for  the  occasion  ;  punkahs  fanned  the 
guests  in  the  palace  of  the  simple  Franciscan  ;  the 
finest  Flemish  carpets,  the  clioicest  silver  ornaments, 
adorned  the  rooms.  For  the  edification  of  the 
Princess,  her  host  had  the  Story  of  Susanna  per- 
fcjrmed  by  a  company  of  Florentine  actors  ;  the 
banquet  which  he  gave  in  her  honour  vied  with  the 
culinary  marvels  of  the  most  gluttonous  Roman 
Emperors.     One  is  reminded   in   reading    the   menu 


PAPAL    NEPOTISM  205 

of  the  feast  of  the  parvenu  Trimalchio,  in  the  quaint 
tale  of  Petronius.  Such  extravagance  as  this  was 
indeed  worthier  of  an  Oriental  potentate  than  of  a 
Christian  monk,  but  this  beggar  on  horseback  was 
not  content  with  spending  money  on  food  and  drink 
alone.  His  mansion  was  full  of  poets  and  other 
parasites,  and  his  stables  full  of  horses.  He  obtained 
from  his  uncle  the  title  of  legate  for  all  Italy,  and  it 
was  hinted  that  he  aspired  to  the  Papacy  itself.  But 
death  cut  short  his  ambitions,  accelerated  perhaps  by 
his  boundless  appetite  for  every  kind  of  indulgence. 
The  nepotism  of  Sixtus  did  not,  however,  end  with 
the  Franciscan's  demise.  The  favourite's  place  was 
taken  in  the  papal  affections  by  another  nephew, 
who  quitted  the  toll-bar  at  Savona  to  levy  blackmail 
on  the  unhappy  subjects  of  the  Pontiff.  Such  were 
the  men  whom  the  pilgrims  found  in  office  when  they 
visited  Rome  in  1475  for  the  seventh  (Vi)io  santo, 
which  had  now  been  fixed  at  an  interval  of  only 
twenty-five  years  from  the  last  celebration,  of  course 
for  the  purpose  of  making  money  out  of  the  pious 
visitors.  From  1475  down  to  1775  this  practice  ot 
keeping  the  Jubilee  every  quarter  of  a  century  pre- 
vailed. From  that  year  there  was  a  gap  till  1825, 
and  the  misfortunes  of  the  Church  did  not  permit  of 
holding  another  till  1900.  At  the  seventh  Jubilee 
few  pilgrims  appeared,  and  those  few  were  dis- 
appointed. Tournaments  and  shows  were  all  that 
Rome  had  to  offer  to  those  who  vainly  sought  there 
the  purity  of  religion. 

The  natural  result  of  nepotisni  was' to  involve  the 
Popes  in  the  labyrinth  of  Italian  politics.     Sixtus  is 


206  ROME    UNDER    SIXTHS   IV. 

proved  to  have  been  one  of  the  instigators  of  the  dis- 
graceful conspiracy  of  the  Pazzi  against  the  Medici  at 
Florence,  which  shocked  even  that  callous  age,  and 
has  been  stigmatised  by  an  eminent  historian  as  "  an 
incontrovertible  proof  of  the  practical  atheism  of  the 
times."  The  Pazzi,  a  distinguished  Florentine  family, 
were  bankers  at  Rome,  and  came  naturally  into  con- 
tact with  the  Pope's  nephew,  Girolamo  Riaric.  They 
seem  to  have  had  an  ancient  grudge  against  the 
Medici ;  while  the  Pope  and  his  nephew  cherished 
the  design  of  making  themselves  masters  of  Florence, 
and  considered  the  Pazzi  as  serviceable  tools  for  their 
purpose.  The  Archbishop  of  Pisa  was  admitted  to  the 
councils  of  the  conspirators,  and  it  was  arranged  that 
the  two  Medici,  Giuliano  and  Lorenzo,  should  be  mur- 
dered at  the  latter's  country  residence  at  P'iesole.  An 
accident  caused  the  postponement  of  the  attempt,  and 
the  crime  was  actually  committed  in  the  cathedral  at 
Florence  at  the  moment  when  the  priest  was  raising 
the  consecrated  wafer.  It  was  only  partially  success- 
ful, for,  though  Giuliano  fell,  Lorenzo  escaped.  The 
chief  blame  must  rest  upon  the  Pope,  though  he  was 
not  technically  guilty  of  the  murder  of  Giuliano  at  the 
altar.  He,  however,  showed  his  sympathy  with  the 
crime,  for  he  excommunicated  the  Florentines  because 
they  had  punished  the  murderer,  but  his  injustice 
reacted  on  himself.  In  the  fine  castle  of  the  Orsini 
at  Bracciano,  now  the  property  of  Prince  Odescalchi, 
a  league  was  formed  between  France,  Venice,  Milan, 
and  other  lesser  Powers  against  the  oppressor  of 
P^'lorence,  who  had  postponed  the  war  with  the  Turks 
to  the  gratification  of  his  own  spite  and  the  ad\ance- 


fcs 


b^  ^.  ^ 


o   -42. 


208  ROME     UNDER   SIXTUS    IV. 

ment  of  his  own  relatives.  Florence  was  saved,  but 
in  the  self-same  moment  came  the  news  of  an  event 
which  dumbfounded  Europe  and  forced  even  selfish 
Sixtus  to  make  peace  with  his  Italian  foes.  On 
August  21,  1480,  the  Turks  captured  Otranto,  and  for 
the  first  time  set  foot  on  Italian  soil.  This  success 
had  a  tremendous  effect.  The  King  of  Bosnia  had 
said  nearly  twenty  }'ears  before  that  when  he  had 
fallen  his  conquerors  would  make  their  way  into 
Ital}'.  But  terrible  as  the  advent  of  the  Ottomans 
had  then  seemed,  it  was  not  so  appalling  as  when 
they  actually  stood  on  Italian  soil.  Sixtus,  panic- 
stricken  at  the  thought  that  the  Crescent  might  ere 
long  wave  over  St.  Peter's,  meditated  flight  to  France, 
but  the  death  of  Mohammed  II.  in  1481  saved  Rome 
from  the  fate  of  Constantinople.  On  September  loth 
of  that  year  the  Turks  evacuated  Otranto,  never  to 
return.  It  is  curious  to  speculate  what  would  have 
been  the  future  of  Europe  if  the  Turkish  hosts  had 
really  conquered  Italy  ;  but  that  calamity  has  been 
spared  us,  and  Otranto  remains  the  most  western 
point  in  Europe  to  which  the  Turk  has  penetrated. 
Sixtus,  the  moment  that  the  danger  was  removed, 
reverted  to  his  old  ways,  and  hesitated  to  follow  up 
the  advantage  by  striking  a  blow  at  the  retiring 
enemy.  Nor  was  he  tempted  to  make  good  the 
shadowy  claims  on  Bosnia  which  the  last  Bosnian 
queen,  Catherine,  who  had  sought  refuge  in  Rome 
and  had  died  there,  a  pensioner  of  the  Pope,  in  1478, 
had  bequeathed  to  the  Holy  See.  He  was  suffi- 
ciently generous  to  give  an  annuity  to  Andrew,  the 
elder  son   of  the    Despot  Thfjmas    Paktologus,  who 


BATTLE    OF   CAMPO   MORTO  20g 

had  found  an  as}'lui"n  in  Rome  after  wanderinij  all 
over  Europe,  and  to  provide  Queen  Carlotta  of  Cyprus 
with  a  dwelling  in  which  she  died.  Rome  had  become 
what  London  was  after  successive  European  revolu- 
tions, the  home  of  dispossessed  potentates. 

Relieved  from  the  dread  of  a  Turkish  invasion, 
Sixtus  sought  the  aggrandisement  of  another  nephew 
in  the  Romagna,  and  so  aroused  the  suspicions  of  all 
Italian  magnates.  In  Rome  itself  the  Colonna  and 
the  Savelli  rose  against  him,  while  the  Orsini  took 
up  arms  in  his  defence  against  their  hereditary  foes. 
Other  clans  joined  in  the  quarrel,  and  civil  war  once 
more  raged  in  the  city.  To  make  matters  worse,  the 
papal  troops  desecrated  the  churches,  not  sparing 
even  the  Lateran,  and  converted  their  quarters  into 
a  perfect  plague-spot.  A  Neapolitan  army,  in  the 
ranks  of  which  fought  Mussulmans  from  Otranto, 
approached,  but  was  defeated  by  the  Pope's  forces 
under  the  command  of  one  of  the  Malatesta  family 
of  Rimini,  at  Campo  Morto  in  the  Pontine  Marshes. 
The  marsh  fever  slew  the  victorious  commander,  and 
Sixtus  concluded  a  peace  which  is  still  commemorated 
in  the  title  of  Sta.  Maria  della  Pace,  where  the  happy 
event  was  celebrated.  The  delighted  Romans  wished 
to  escort  him  with  a  torchlight  procession,  and  the 
whole  city  was  the  scene  of  festivities.  The  Carnival 
was  kept  with  more  than  usual  splendour,  and  a  hunt 
was  organised  on  the  Capitol,  But  the  faction  fights 
soon  began  again  ;  the  cit}^  rang  with  the  cr}'  of 
"  Church  and  Orso "  ;  the  quarter  of  the  Colonna 
was  stormed  by  the  papal  party,  and  their  palaces 
were  torn  down  at  the  Pope's  command.     A  prosecu- 

15 


2IO  ROME    UNDF.R    SIXTHS   //' 

tion  of  the  vanquished  clan  followed,  and  this  was 
made  an  excuse  for  levying  blackmail  and  paying  off 
old  scores.  The  Roman  commune  begged  Sixtus  to 
pardon  the  Colonna  ;  but,  influenced  by  one  of  his 
inevitable  nephews,  he  declined,  and  called  down  the 
blessing  of  the  Almighty  on  the  cannon  which  he 
despatched  against  their  strongholds  in  the  Cam- 
pagna.  Lorenzo  Colonna,  the  most  prominent  of 
the  clan,  whom  Sixtus  had  promised  to  spare,  was 
beheaded  under  the  most  touching  circumstances,  and 
his  mother,  lifting  up  his  severed  head,  exclaimed  : 
"  This  is  the  head  of  my  son  !  This  is  the  way  in 
which  Papa  Sisto  keeps  his  word  !  "  A  few  weeks 
later  Papa  Sisto  was  dead.  A  mediaeval  historian, 
the  Suetonius  of  the  Vatican,  has  left  a  terrible  indict- 
ment of  this  man.  "It  was,  indeed,  a  happy  day," 
he  wrote,  "  when  God  delivered  Christendom  from 
such  a  creature."  Such  was  his  love  of  bloodshed 
that  he  once  bade  two  of  his  bodyguards  fight  a  duel 
before  his  eyes  ;  such  was  his  love  of  mone}'  that  he 
left  no  means  untried  in  order  to  obtain  it.  "  The 
Pope,"  he  used  to  sa}',  "  only  wants  pen  and  ink  to 
raise  any  sum  he  chooses."  This  first  Delia  Rovere 
Pontiff,  by  his  nepotism  and  love  of  power,  led  the 
way  for  the  crimes  of  the  second  Borgia,  who  was  so 
soon  to  sit  in  the  seat  of  St.  Peter.  In  the  time  of 
Sixtus,  wrote  a  poet,  "  everything,  even  God,  was  for 
sale,"  and  the  bitter  epigram  was  truer  than  most. 
Yet  even  Sixtus  IV.  was  not  all  bad.  He  respected 
learning  ;  he  tried  to  cultivate  the  Campagna  ;  above 
all,  he  beautified  the  cit)'  of  Rome. 

It  is  in  this  last  respect  that  he  deserves  the  most 


THE    SISTINK    CHAPEF., 


212  ROME    UNDER    SIXTUS    IV. 

attention.  He  made  Rome  a  modern  city  in  the 
sense  that  he  made  it  habitable.  He  ordered  the 
chief  streets  to  be  tiled,  so  that  it  was  said  of  him  that 
he  found  Rome  mud  and  left  it — tiles.  He  instituted 
a  commission  for  the  widening  of  the  narrow  lanes, 
through  which  it  had  been  difficult  for  two  horsemen 
to  ride  abreast.  He  swept  away  the  smithies  which 
blocked  up  the  bridge  of  Sant'  Angelo,  and  when  a 
Roman  householder  remonstrated  at  these  improve- 
ments his  answer  was  to  pull  the  man's  house  down. 
Another  bridge,  the  Ponte  Sisto,  still  commemorates 
his  name,  though  it  was  widened  in  1878.  Its 
foundations  were  laid  by  the  Pope  from  a  boat,  and 
the  work  was  finished  in  time  for  the  Jubilee  of  1475- 
In  order  to  encourage  building  he  bestowed  special 
privileges  on  all  who  built  houses  in  Rome,  while  he 
restored  the  hospital  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  re-erected 
the  churches  of  Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo  and  San  Pietro 
in  Vincoli,  besides  beginning  that  of  Sta.  Maria  della 
Pace.  But  his  best  known  work  was  the  Sistine 
Chapel,  begun  at  his  command  in  1473  by  Giovanni 
de'  Dolci,  and  decorated  by  the  best  artists  of  the 
period.  He  also  revived  the  Vatican  librar}',  which 
had  been  neglected  since  the  death  of  Nicholas  V., 
set  aside  money  for  the  purpose,  and  gave  the  books 
a  local  habitation  under  the  chapel.  Nor  were  his 
nephews  altogether  without  merit  as  builders  and 
beautifiers  of  Rome,  and  Cardinal  Julian  della  Rovere 
(afterwards  Pope  Julius  II.)  was  the  creator  of  the 
fine  castle  at  Ostia  which  still  remains.  Another 
familiar  relic  of  Sixtus  in  Rome  is  the  equestrian 
statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  which  now  stands  in   the 


S/XrUS   AS   A    BUILDER 


213 


Piazza  del  Campiclogiio,  and  owes  its  restoration,  but 
not  its  removal  to  its  present  site,  to  his  care.  His 
reign,  too,  marked  a  new  development  of  painting. 
Botticelli,  Perugino,  and  others  worked  in  Rome,  and 
the  number  and   importance  of  the   artists   at   this 


THE    CASTLE    AT    OSTIA. 

{From  a  photo,  by  Mrs.  Miller.) 


period  may  be  judged  from  their  foundation  of  a 
Guild  of  St.  Luke.  There  is  no  more  favourable 
summary  of  this  pontificate  than  the  frescoes  with 
which  Sixtus  adorned  the  hospital  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
They  show  him  as  the  builder  of  the  Ponte  Sisto  and 


214  ROME    UNDER    SI  XT  US    l\\ 

o{  the  hospital,  the  author  of  Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo 
and  Sta.  Maria  della  Pace  ;  they  depict  him  receiving 
the  kneeling  Queens  of  Bosnia  and  Cyprus,  the  exiled 
Despots  of  Epirus  and  the  Morea.  His  tomb  may 
be  seen  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  in 
St.  Peter's,  where  a  bronze  figure  of  the  Pope  is 
surrounded  by  the  sciences  which  he  patronised. 
Yet  even  now,  after  all  the  changes  of  four  centuries, 
his  spirit  might  say  with  truth,  "If  you  wish  for  my 
real  monument,  look  around  Rome." 

On  his  death  in  1484  the  people  plundered  the 
palace  of  his  nephew  Riario,  broke  open  the  corn 
magazines — for  the  hangers-on  of  the  Delia  Rovere 
family  had  anticipated  modern  American  methods 
of  "  cornering "  wheat — and  besieged  the  offices  of 
the  Ligurian  money-changers,  who  had  driven  a  roar- 
ing trade  under  the  auspices  of  their  distinguished 
fellow-countryman.  The  relatives  of  Sixtus  saw  that 
the  game  was  up  for  the  moment,  while  the  Colonna, 
thirsting  for  vengeance,  returned  to  their  possessions. 
Barricades  rose  as  if  by  magic,  the  hostile  cries  of  the 
Orsini  and  (.'(jlonna  factions  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth.  A  fresh  civil  war  seemed  to  be  impending. 
The  Cardinals  saw  that  the  new  Pope  must  be  chosen 
at  once,  and  their  choice,  influenced,  it  was  said,  by 
bribes,  fell  on  Cardinal  Cibo,  a  rich  Genoese  who  took 
the  title  of  Innocent  VIII.  The  new  Pope  had  been, 
like  his  father,  in  the  Neapolitan  service  at  the  time 
when  Naples  belonged  to  the  House  of  Anjou,  and 
this  unfortunate  connection  led  him  to  embroil  him- 
self in  a  war  with  tlie  House  of  Aragon  which  now 
ruled  there.     This  conflict  still  furtlicr  embittered  the 


INNOCENT    VIII.  215 

hatreds  of  the  Roman   factions,  while  it  increased  the 
universal  distress.     One  of    the  Cardinals  set  fire  to 
the  palace  of  the  Orsini,  and  the  Pope  took  into  the 
employ  of  the  Church  all  the  ruffians  who  had  been 
banished    for    their    crimes.     The    return    of    these 
scoundrels,    many   of  them    murderers,    produced    a 
perfect    pandemonium    in    the    city.     Citizens    were 
stabbed   in   the   streets,   pilgrims   were    waylaid,  and 
even  the  envoys  of  foreign  states  were  not  protected 
by  their  sacrosanct  dignity.     Justice  was  both  weak 
and  venal.     "God,"  said  the  papal  vice-chamberlain, 
"does  not  wish  the  death  of  a  sinner,  but  rather  that 
he  should  live  and  pay."     The  Pope's  son,  Frances- 
chetto — for  Innocent  hardly  troubled  to  disguise  his 
offspring   under  the  usual   name  of  "  nephews "  and 
"  nieces " — had     a     special     arrangement     with     the 
authorities  by  which   he   pocketed   all   fines   above  a 
certain   figure.     Every    Cardinal's    palace   became   a 
little   Alsatia,  where  malefactors  were   defended    by 
the  mercenaries  who  were  a  necessary  part  of  the 
household.     At  times   the   Cardinals    levied   war    on 
each    other,    and,    like    the     Pope,    they    too     had 
"  nephews "   for  whom   it  was    necessary   to    provide 
as   well  as  their   partisans   in   the    mob  whom    they 
pacified  by  splendid  shows  at  the  carnival.     But  these 
shows  were  eclipsed   by  the  wedding  of  the  Pope's 
son   with  a  daughter  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  which 
took    place    in    the    Vatican — a    novelty,   eminently 
characteristic  of  Innocent,  who,  a    little   later,  cele- 
brated in   the  same  sacred  spot   the    nuptials  of   a 
granddaughter,  and  actually  sat  down   to  table  with 
the  ladies  ! 


2l6  ROME    UNDER   SIXTUS    IV. 

A  curious  incident  of  Oriental  history  illustrates 
the  chronicle  of  papal  degradation  at  this  point. 
Mohammed  II.  had  left  a  younger  son,  Djem,  who, 
after  vainly  endeavouring  to  deprive  the  rightful  heir 
of  the  throne,  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Knights  of 
Rhodes.  The  Grand  Master  basely  agreed,  on  con- 
sideration of  an  annual  payment  by  the  Sultan,  to 
keep  the  young  pretender  in  safe  custody.  In 
accordance  with  this  bargain  Djem  was  sent  to 
France,  still  under  the  charge  of  the  Knights,  until 
the  latter  handed  him  over  to  the  Pope.  He 
arrived  in  Rome  in  1489,  and  thus  the  irony  of  fate 
led  the  son  of  the  conqueror  of  Constantinople  as  a 
captive  to  the  court  of  the  Pontiff.  Djem  might  have 
complained  with  reason  that  he  was  sacrificed  "  to 
make  a  Roman  holiday  "  ;  vast  crowds  assembled  to 
gaze  on  him  and  his  small  band  of  Mohammedan 
followers  ;  the  Pope's  son  with  other  persons  of  dis- 
tinction met  him  at  the  gate  ;  but  Djem's  face  was 
veiled,  and  he  received  with  truly  Turkish  indiffer- 
ence the  obeisances  of  the  Egyptian  envoy  and  the 
salutations  of  the  Roman  nobles.  He  was  suitably 
lodged  in  the  Vatican,  and  was  received  by  Innocent 
in  full  state  next  day.  Even  in  his  exile  he  refused 
to  bow  the  knee  before  the  Pope,  but  would  only  con- 
sent to  kiss  his  shoulder  and  embrace  the  Cardinals. 
For  nearly  six  years  he  remained  a  prisoner  in  the 
Vatican,  amusing  himself  as  best  he  could  with  hunt- 
ing or  music,  while  his  gaoler,  the  Pope,  pocketed  an 
annual  allowance  from  the  Sultan  for  his  strict  super- 
vision. On  one  occasion  the  Sultan  tried  to  get  rid 
of  him  ;  but   Innocent,  to  whom  Djem's  death  would 


STORY   OF  DJEM  2\y 

have  meant  the  loss  of  a  nice  income,  had  the 
would-be  assassin  executed.  On  another  occasion 
the  Turkish  envoy,  who  brought  as  a  present  from 
his  master  the  point  of  the  lance  which  had  wounded 
Our  Lord,  and  at  the  same  time  the  money  for  Djem's 
maintenance,  insisted  on  seeing  the  captive,  thinking, 
no  doubt,  that  the  guileless  Innocent  might  be  receiv- 
ing payment  from  the  Sultan  for  keeping  a  dead 
pretender  in  custody.  Djem  received  his  brother's 
emissary  and  entertained  him  in  the  Vatican — a 
proceeding  which  scandalised  those  Romans  who 
still  regarded  that  palace  as  a  hoh^  place.  It  was, 
indeed,  a  curious  spectacle  to  see  a  Pope  taking 
bribes  from  a  Sultan  for  acting  as  a  gaoler.  But, 
under  Innocent's  successor,  a  yet  more  disgraceful 
scene  ensued.  At  first  Djem  was  the  friend  and 
companion  of  the  Borgia,  one  of  whom  used  to  wear 
Turkish  clothes  as  a  compliment  to  him.  But  when 
Charles  VIII.  of  France  invaded  Italy  he  dreamt  of 
a  conquest  of  the  East  as  well,  and  intended  to  get 
hold  of  Djem  and  use  him  as  a  tool.  Alexander  VI., 
hard  pressed,  consented  to  give  up  his  prisoner, 
whom  the  Sultan  had  urged  him  to  murder,  pro- 
mising to  pay  him  a  huge  sum  for  the  deed.  Djem 
was  taken  to  Naples,  but  soon  after  died  there 
early  in  1495,  it  was  said,  of  poison,  administered 
by  Alexander's  command.  Later  on,  the  Turks 
removed  his  body  to  Brusa,  where  the  present 
writer  saw  his  grave  among  the  tombs  of  the 
Sultans. 

The  news  of  the  fall  of  Granada  and  the  expulsion 
of  the  Moors  from  Spain  brightened  the  last  months 


2l8  ROME    UNDER    SIXTUS   IV. 

of  Innocent,  and  provoked  general  rejoicing  in  Rome  ; 
all  the  houses  were  illuminated,  processions  made 
their  way  to  the  Spanish  National  Church,  San 
Giacomo  degli  Spagnuoli ;  the  storming  of  Granada 
was  represented,  and  bull-fights  were  held  at  the 
cost  of  the  Spanish  envoys  on  the  Piazza  Navona. 
In  the  same  year,  1492,  the  Pope  died,  and  the  most 
notoriously  wicked  of  all  Pontiffs  mounted  the  throne 
in  the  person  of  Rodrigo  Borgia,  known  in  the  papal 
annals  as  Alexander  VI.  With  his  election  the 
Papacy  reached  its  lowest  depth,  and  Rome  became 
a  byword  for  all  that  was  base. 

Innocent  VIII.  did  not  impress  his  mark,  like  his 
predecessor,  on  the  external  appearance  of  the  city. 
But  he  restored  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria  in  Via 
Lata  ;  he  erected  a  fountain  in  the  Piazza  di  San 
Pietro,  but  in  a  different  position  from  that  of  the  two 
present  ones  ;  and,  above  all,  he  built  the  Belvedere 
in  the  Vatican.  The  hunting-box  of  La  Magliana 
was  also  his  work.  His  monument  in  St.  Peter's 
perpetuates  the  event  of  his  reign,  which  most 
impressed  the  credulous —  the  reception  of  the  point 
of  the  sacred  lance. 

The  Conclave  which  met  after  his  death  was 
divided  between  the  French  and  German  interests  ; 
but  the  latter  prevailed,  owing  partly  to  the  prestige 
of  Spain  at  that  moment,  partly  to  the  gigantic 
bribery  practised  by  the  Spanish  candidate,  who 
was  said  to  have  sent  to  another  prominent  Cardinal 
four  mules  laden  with  gold  besides  promising  him  his 
own  palace  and  all  that  was  in  it,  in  return  for  his 
vote  and  influence.     Other  members  of  the  Conclave 


CAREER    OF  RODRIGO   BORGIA  2ig 

were  promised  bishoprics  and  castles  ;  and  one  hoary 
sinner,  tottering  on  the  edge  of  the  grave  at  the  age 
of  95,  was  not  ashamed  to  take  a  heavy  bribe  in  cash. 
Under  these  circumstances,  Borgia  was  chosen  by  an 
unanimous  vote  ;  and  one  of  the  electors,  lifting  him 
up  in  his  arms,  placed  him  on  the  throne  above  the 
high  altar  of  St.  Peter's,  so  that  the  people  might 
see  the  creature  whom  the  Cardinals  to  their  eternal 
infamy  had  appointed  to  be  the  Vicar  of  Christ  upon 
earth.  But  the  first  thought  of  the  populace  had  been, 
as  usual,  to  plunder  the  new  Pope's  palace,  and  it  is 
an  undoubted  fact  that  his  election  was  popular  in 
Rome. 

We  have  already  seen  this  monster  disporting  him- 
self with  other  men's  wives  in  the  gardens  of  Siena; 
but  that  was  only  one  of  his  numerous  vices.  He 
had  had  four  children  by  a  mistress,  whom  he  induced 
three  successive  husbands  to  make  a  moderately 
honest  woman.  This  liaison  was  of  more  importance 
than  as  a  proof  of  the  Pope's  degraded  character,  for 
among  the  numerous  children  who  sprang  from  it 
were  Caesar  and  Lucrezia  Borgia,  names  of  ill  omen 
in  the  history  of  their  age.  To  this  Pope's  affection 
for  Julia  Farnese,  her  brother,  afterwards  Pope  him- 
self, owed  his  Cardinal's  hat.  Alexander  VI.  was, 
however,  known  to  be  a  good  man  of  business  in  the 
way  that  business  was  conducted  in  those  days, 
though  he  would  hardly  have  risen  so  rapidly  to  be 
Vice-Chancellor  of  the  Church,  the  bishop  of  three 
dioceses  and  a  Cardinal,  if  he,  by  birth  the  son  of  a 
Spanish  nobleman  of  Jativa,  near  Valencia,  had  not 
been  the  nephew  of  Calixtus   III.      He  was  a  man  of 


220  ROME    UNDER    SIXTUS   IV. 

moderate  culture  and  immoderate  ambition,  a  cunning 
diplomatist  and  a  ready  speaker,  a  fine-looking  figure, 
and,  so  his  secretary  has  stated,  "  in  the  opinion  of  all 
his  colleagues,  worthy  of  the  Papacy."  A  modern 
historian  may  qualify  this  judgment  by  saying  that 
he  was  a  thoroughly  representative  man  of  his  age  and 
surroundings.  Rome  had  for  some  time  past  been 
ripe  for  an  Alexander  VI.,  and  now  she  got  what  she 
deserved.  The  people  greeted  him  with  a  torchlight 
procession,  and  his  coronation  threw  all  previous  papal 
ceremonies  into  the  shade.  An  allegorical  figure  of 
Rome,  represented  as  a  woman  with  the  papal  tiara 
in  her  hand  and  the  bull,  the  arms  of  the  Borgia 
family,  by  her  side,  was  erected  on  the  route  with  an 
appropriate  list  of  the  new  Pontiff's  virtues,  among 
which  "  Chastity  "  was  the  first.  A  courtly  poet  in  a 
detestable  elegiac  couplet  which  will  not  even  scan 
announced  that,  "if  C;esar  had  made  the  city  great, 
the  sixth  Alexander  had  made  her  greater,  for  Caesar 
was  only  a  man,  his  successor  a  god."  Obsequious 
Cardinals,  little  suspecting  the  fate  that  would  soon 
be  theirs,  at  the  hands  of  their  new  master,  grovelled 
before  him,  and  the  mob,  which  afterwards  scoffed  at 
the  virtuous  Hadrian  VI.,  greeted  the  lascivious 
Borgia  with  enthusiasm  as  he  was  borne  along  in  a 
golden  palanquin  to  the  Lateran.  Yet  the  historian 
Guicciardini  has  coupled  his  election  with  the  death 
of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  as  the  two  greatest  blows 
which  fell  upon  Italy  in  that  age.  In  judging 
Alexander  VI.,  our  opinion  of  him  must  differ, 
according  as  we  consider  his  conduct  by  the  standard 
of  a  Leo  XIII.,  or  by  that  of  his  own  degenerate  age 


ELECT/OX    OF   ALEXANDER    TI. 


221 


—the  age  of  the  poisoned  cup  and  tlie  perjured 
conscience.  But  even  so  it  would  be  well  for  the 
credit  of  human  nature,  if  the  eleven  years  of  his 
pontificate  could  be  blotted  out  from  the  story  of  the 
Papacy. 


IX 


THE    PAPACY   OF   ALEXANDER   VI. 


The  first  acts  of  the  new  Pope  marked  him  as,  at 
least,  a  strong  ruler.  He  punished  crime  among  his 
subjects  with  rigour,  paid  his  officials  punctually,  and 
restored  peace  and  plenty  to  the  city.  His  own  table 
cost  but  little,  for  he  was  a  strict  economist  in  matters 
of  personal  expenditure.  But  from  the  first  moment 
hedispla)'ed  the  spirit  of  nepotism,  which,  in  his  case, 
caused  such  grave  evils.  For,  in  the  desire  to  raise  his 
children  to  posts  of  eminence,  he  stuck  at  nothing. 
His  first  care  was  for  Caesar,  who  rushed  from  his 
studies  at  Pisa  to  Rome  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  news 
of  his  father's  election.  On  the  very  day  of  his 
coronation,  Alexander  created  him  Archbishop  of 
Valencia,  a  post  which  he  had  occupied  himself,  and 
a  little  later  made  him  a  Cardinal.  Similar  appoint- 
ments followed,  and  soon  no  less  than  thirt}^  relatives 
of  the  new  Pope  were  holding  high  offices.  The  days  of 
Calixtus  1 1 1,  had  returned  ;  the  Borgia  family  had  once 
more  invaded  Rome.  For  Lucrezia,  by  reason  of  her 
sex, there  was  no  ecclesiastical  preferment,  for  her  age 
(she  was  twelve  at  her  father's  accession)  would  have 


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ALEXANDER    VI, 


224  THF.    PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    17. 

been  no  bar  to  such  a  career,  seeing  that  Caisar  had 
been  dedicated  to  the  Church  at  six.  But  her  father 
married  the  young  lady,  who  had  already  been  twice 
engaged,  to  the  relative  of  a  powerful  Cardinal,  the 
same  who  had  received  the  four  mules  laden  with  gold. 
The  wedding  was  celebrated  in  the  Belvedere  of  the 
Vatican  according  to  the  precedent  of  Innocent  VIII., 
in  the  presence  of  the  happy  father,  but  we  must  leave 
the  description  of  the  proceedings  in  "  the  decent 
obscurity  of  a  foreign  language."  As  the  King  of 
Naples  said,  the  Pope's  sole  aim  was  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  his  children. 

It  is  pleasant  to  turn  from  these  pett}'  acts  of 
nepotism  to  the  great  deed  of  world-wide  import, 
which  Alexander  was  called  upon  to  execute.  In  the 
same  year  which  witnessed  his  elevation  to  the 
Papacy,  Columbus  had  discovered  America,  and 
during  his  pontificate  Vasco  da  Gama  doubled  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  two  great  exploring 
Powers  of  that  age,  Spain  and  Portugal,  appealed  to 
his  decision  for  the  delimitation  of  their  "  spheres  of 
influence  "  in  the  New  World,  just  as,  in  our  own  day, 
Leo  XIII.  has  been  made  arbiter  of  a  territorial 
dispute  between  Spain  and  Germany  in  the  Caroline 
Islands.  Alexander,  with  the  boldness  of  a  foreign 
office  official  who  has  never  quitted  Downing-street, 
drew  a  line  on  the  map  of  the  globe,  and  assigned 
all  lands  discovered,  or  to  be  discovered,  lOO  miles 
west  of  Cape  Verde  and  the  Azores,  to  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  thus  re-asserting  the  cosmopolitan 
authority  which  some  of  his  greatest  predecessors  had 
claimed  for  the  Papacy.    He  practised  also  a  religious 


EXPEDITION   OF   CHARLES  Vlll.  225 

toleration,  which  incurred  him  the  censure  of  bigots, 
by  receiving  and  providing  with  a  camping-ground 
near  the  tomb  of  Ceciha  Metella,  a  party  of  Saracens 
and  Jews,  who  had  fled  from  the  terrors  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition,  but  whose  compatriots  found  a  safer 
refuge  at  Salonica,  Smyrna,  and  other  Turkish  towns. 
Italy  herself  was,  however,  soon  menaced  w4th  an 
invasion,  which  occupied  all  the  thoughts  of  the 
Romans  and  their  ruler.  Charles  VIII.  of  France  was 
preparing  his  memorable  expedition  to  win  the  throne 
of  Naples,  as  the  heir  of  the  House  of  Anjou.  In 
1494  he  started,  after  having  in  vain  urged  Alexander 
to  sanction  his  claim.  The  latter  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  reigning  Neapolitan  dynasty  and  did  not 
even  shrink  from  seeking  help  from  the  Sultan,  to 
whom  he  despatched  a  special  envoy  with  instructions 
of  a  highly  compromising  character.  It  was,  indeed, 
a  touch  of  irony  to  find  the  head  of  Christendom 
asking  Turkish  aid  against  "  the  eldest  daughter  "  of 
the  Church  !  The  Turks  were,  however,  far  off",  and 
Charles  was  daily  approaching.  Ostia  was  occupied 
by  French  troops  ;  the  King  reached  Viterbo,  where 
the  Pope's  mistress,  Julia  Farnese,  was  captured  by 
the  invaders,  and  the  Orsini  went  over  to  Charles,  who 
made  their  castle  at  Bracciano  his  headquarters. 
This  last  blow  decided  the  wavering"  Alexander,  who 
had  meditated  defending  Rome  against  the  French, 
and  had  begged  the  large  German  colony  there,  inn- 
keepers, shoemakers,  bakers,  and  the  like,  to  take  up 
arms  on  his  behalf.  He  came  to  terms  with  the 
King,  persuaded  the  Neapolitan  troops,  which  had 
reached   Rome,  to    withdraw,  and  on  the  last  day  of 

16 


226       THE   PAPACY   OF  ALEKAXDRR    VI. 

1494  Charles  \nil.  made  his  triumphant  entry 
through  the  Porta  del  Popolo,  where  his  Grand 
Marshal  received  the  keys  of  all  the  gates.  In  full 
panoply,  with  lance  in  rest,  the  young  monarch  rode 
through  what  is  now  the  Corso,  accompanied  by  the 
fine  flower  of  French  chivalry.  It  was  a  fantastic- 
scene,  for  it  was  dark  when  he  arrived,  and  the 
armour  of  the  T^rench  knights  reflected  the  lights  of 
the  torches  which  illuminated  the  street.  The 
inhabitants,  who  had  refused  to  defend  the  city,  had 
obsequiously  fastened  the  arms  of  France  before  their 
doors  and  shouted  :  ''  Fraiicia!  Francia!''  as  Charles 
dismounted  in  front  of  the  Palazzo  di  Venezia,  where 
rooms  had  been  prepared  for  him.  Artillery  protected 
the  aj)proaches  of  the  palace,  French  soldiers 
encamped  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  and  the  New 
Year  found  the  Pope  trembling  at  the  possible 
intentions  of  his  unwelcome  visitor,  while  the  Romans 
knew  not  what  would  happen  next.  The  enemies  of 
Alexander  implored  Charles  to  depose  him  as  having 
been  guilty  (jf  simony,  to  reform  the  Church,  and  to 
put  a  puppet  of  his  own  in  Borgia's  place.  The  rough 
draft  of  the  document  deposing  the  Pope  was  actually 
prepared,  and  Alexander  withdrew  to  the  Castle  of 
Sant'  Angckj.  Charles  iiad  a  chance  such  as  fell  to  the 
lot  of  another  Charles,  the  famous  Emperor,  thirty- 
three  }'ears  later,  but,  like  his  namesake,  to  the  regret 
of  all  good  men,  he  neglected  it.  After  visiting  the 
sights  of  the  cit\%  while  his  soldiers  plundered  it,  the 
King  came  to  terms  with  the  Pope,  and  condescended 
to  do  him  homage  "as  the  Vicar  of  Christ  and  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter."   Side  b)-  side  the  craft}-  Pontiff 


THE    FRENCH   IN   ROME  22/ 

and  the  foolish  monarch  rode  through  the  streets,  but 
the  latter  was  careful  to  have  all  his  food  tasted  and 
his  wine  tested  at  every  meal.  After  a  month's  stay 
he  left  for  Naples  ;  and,  after  a  success  easily  won  and 
as  easily  lost,  he  re-entered  Rome  in  June,  where  he 
found  that  Alexander  had  fled,  leaving  the  English 
Cardinal,  Morton,  as  his  vicar.  But  this  time  he  did 
not  tarry  long  ;  he  was  soon  on  the  way  home  from 
his  profitless  campaign,  and  Alexander  once  more 
felt  safe  on  his  throne.  Yet  there  were  persons,  who 
shook  their  heads  over  the  return  of  such  a  monster, 
and  saw  in  the  terrible  inundation  of  the  Tiber 
towards  the  close  of  1495  a  sign  of  God's  wrath  at  the 
public  immorality  of  the  time. 

As  soon  as  the  fear  of  France  was  removed 
Alexander  set  about  clearing  away  the  obstacles 
which  impeded  the  advancement  of  his  family.  He 
began  with  the  Orsini,  whose  possessions  had  long 
been  a  Naboth's  vineyard  to  him  ;  but  their  strong- 
hold of  Bracciano,i  protected  by  its  lake,  repelled  the 
attacks  of  the  papal  troops.  Foiled  in  this  attempt 
to  provide  his  eldest  living  child,  Juan,  who  had  been 
made  Duke  of  Gandia  in  Spain,  with  a  splendid 
appanage,  he  resolved  to  enrich  him  at  the  cost  of  the 
Church,  and  created  him  Duke  of  Benevento  and  Ponte 
Corvo.  But  this  parental  plan,  like  the  other,  was 
frustrated,  and  by  an  appalling  tragedy.  A  week  after 
Juan's  nomination,  he  was  supping  with  his  brother 
in  a  vineyard,  and  after  the  meal  rode  some  way  with 
him  towards  the  Vatican.     Before  they  had   reached 

'   It    is    still    a    model    uf   a    media-val    castle,   and   reminds    one   ul 
Warwicli. 


228  THE   PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    VI. 

their  father's  abode,  the  two  brothers  parted,  Juan 
alleghig  that  he  had  to  attend  to  some  business.  Next 
morning  he  did  not  appear  ;  and,  when  the  evening 
arriv^ed  and  his  son  was  still  absent,  the  Pope  became 
alarmed  and  caused  inquiries  to  be  made  in  the  city. 
A  Slavonic  coal-merchant,  whose  business  kept  him 
on  the  Ripetta,  stated  that  about  one  in  the  morning 
he  had  seen  two  men  emerge  from  an  alley  near  the 
Slavonic  hospital  and  go  down  to  the  Tiber  at  a  spot 
where  refuse  was  wont  to  be  thrown  into  the  river. 
After  looking  around  as  if  to  se "  that  all  was  quiet, 
they  went  back,  and  two  others  appeared.  They  also 
peered  about,  and  then  gave  a  signal,  at  which  a 
man  on  a  white  horse  with  a  dead  body  behind  him 
rode  down  to  the  bank.  His  companions  lifted  the 
corpse  from  the  horse,  and  flung  it  into  the  stream, 
throwing  stones  at  the  dead  man's  cloak,  which 
remained  floating,  so  that  it  might  tell  no  tales.  Thus 
far  the  coal-merchant,  who,  when  asked  why  he  had 
not  at  once  reported  what  he  had  seen,  naively 
replied  :  "  I  have  seen  a  good  hundred  corpses  flung 
into  the  Tiber  at  yonder  spot  in  my  time,  but  I  never 
before  heard  of  any  one  bothering  about  them  " — a 
remark  which  speaks  volumes  for  the  state  of  society 
in  Rome !  But  on  this  occasion  no  efforts  were 
spared  to  discover  the  body  ;  hundreds  of  fishermen 
were  set  to  dredge  the  Tiber,  and  in  a  bitter  epigram 
a  poet  described  the  Pope  as  a  worthy  successor  of 
St.  Peter,  for  he  was  indeed  "  a  fisher  of  men."  The 
quest  was  successful  ;  the  Duke's  corpse  was  dragged 
to  shore,  fully  clothed  but  stabbed  in  nine  places,  the 
hands  bound  behind  the  back  and  an  unopened  purse 


MlfRDF.R    OF    THE    DUKF.    OF   GANDIA  229 

in  one  of  the  pockets.  The  Pope  was  horrified  at  the 
discovery  ;  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  room,  and  was 
heard  weeping  and  crying  aloud  :  "  I  know  who  has 
killed  him."  At  last  he  summoned  the  Cardinals  and 
the  foreign  ambassadors,  and  told  them  that  he  would 
rather  have  his  son  alive  again  than  be  seven  times  a 
Pope.  He  made  virtuous  resolves  to  reform  himself 
and  the  Church,  to  give  up  the  sale  of  benefices,  to 
strike  a  blow  at  pluralists.  He  even  talked  of 
abdicating,  and  seemed  at  last  to  have  a  conscience 
and  a  God. 

Meanwhile,  all  Rome  was  agog  with  curiosity  to 
know  who  was  the  murderer.  The  police  searched 
high  and  low,  all  sorts  of  persons  were  accused — for 
the  dead  man  had  many  doubtful  acquaintances — but 
in  vain.  The  cry  of  the  Pope,  his  sudden  order  to 
stop  further  inquiries,  and  the  principle  of  suspecting 
the  man  who  profited  most  by  the  crime  all  fixed 
the  guilt  upon  the  murdered  Duke's  brother,  Caesar. 
Three  years  later  the  Venetian  ambassador  openly 
stated  that  Caesar  was  the  culprit,  and  the  best 
authorities  took  his  view.  No  eye-witness  was 
present  at  the  first  meeting  of  father  and  son  on  the 
morrow  of  this  tragedy,  by  comparison  with  which 
the  horrors  of  the  House  of  Atreus  seem  as  nothing. 
The  people  whispered  that  the  dead  man's  ghost 
was  heard  in  the  Vatican,  calling  down  on  his  brother 
the  curse  of  Cain.  Evil  spirits  were  supposed  to 
haunt  the  Pope,  and  an  explosion  in  the  powder 
magazine  of  Sant'  Angelo,  caused  by  lightning,  which 
destroyed  the  upper  part  of  the  castle  and  smashed 
the  marble  angel,  was  attributed  to  the  vengeance  of 


230       THE   PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    17. 

Heaven.  But  CiEsar,  unpunished  and  emboldened 
by  the  success  of  his  atrocious  crime,  became  every 
day  more  powerful,  and  took  the  position  of  his  elder 
brother  in  the  Borgia  famil\'.  The  execution  of 
Savonarola,  who  had  dared  to  warn  the  Pope  of  the 
state  of  the  Church,  relieved  Alexander  from  the  most 
earnest  critic  of  his  acts,  and  left  him  free  to  go  on 
in  his  career  of  guilt,  only  startled  at  times  by  the 
pasquinades  which  he  found  affixed  to  the  doors 
of  the  Vatican.  Caesar  laid  down  the  dignity  of  a 
Cardinal  in  order  to  attain  yet  higher  honours  ;  and, 
as  Due  de  Valentinois,  went  on  a  special  mission  to 
France  where  he  received  the  hand  of  a  French 
princess,  and  gave  the  Pope's  consent  to  a  second 
French  invasion  of  Italy  as  the  price  of  the  aggran- 
disement of  the  Borgia  clan.  The  amiable  Lucrezia 
was  married  again  to  an  eligible  prince,  and  appointed 
Regent  of  Spoleto,  to  which  Sermoneta,  the  property 
of  the  Gaetani,  was  added  b}-  means  of  a  series  of 
crimes  such  as  the  Pope  and  his  dear  children  knew 
so  well  how  to  commit.  The  next  step  was  to  root 
out  the  pctt)'  lords  of  the  Romagna,  so  as  to  pro\'ide 
Caisar  with  a  principality  there. 

Aided  by  French  troops,  Caesar  set  about  his  task 
with  his  usual  skill  and  his  natural  unscrupulousness, 
and  in  the  earl}-  days  of  the  eighth  )-ear  of  Jubilee, 
which  the  worst  of  all  Popes  held  with  conspicuous 
pomp  in  1500,  Rome  was  illuminated  in  honour  of 
his  first  successes.  While  two  hundred  thousand 
pilgrims  were  receiving  the  blessing  of  Alexander  on 
their  knees  before  St.  Peter's,  his  son  was  celebrating 
his  triumph  over  the  defenders  of  Imola,  Cesena,  and 


TRIUMI'II    OF   CESAR    JiOh'i;/A  2^1 

Forli.  CiEsar's  entry  into  Rome  was  a  magnificent 
pageant ;  he  was  appointed  standard-bearer  of  the 
Church,  as  a  reward  for  his  victories,  and  received  the 
standard  and  the  baton  from  the  hands  of  his  father, 
as  well  as  the  golden  rose^the  symbol  of  virtue  ! 
The  whole  city  seemed  given  up  to  the  adulation 
of  this  murderer  whom  flatterers  compared  with  the 
great  Csesar,  and  who  boasted  that  he,  too,  "  came, 
saw,  and  conquered."  The  pious  offerings  of  the 
pilgrims  were  devoted  to  hiring  soldiers  for  his  ambi- 
tious schemes,  and  for  their  edification  he  gave  a 
proof  of  his  enormous  strength  by  cutting  off  a  bull's 
head  on  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's.  But  the  bloodthirsty 
Caesar  was  not  content  with  the  slaughter  of  bulls. 
Rome  had  not  yet  forgotten  the  murder  of.  his 
brother  when  the  assassination  of  another  victim,  his 
brother-in-law,  horrified  the  citizens.  The  Prince 
of  Bisceglie,  Lucrezia's  husband,  was  attacked  and 
stabbed  one  night  as  he  was  on  his  wa}^  home  from 
the  Vatican.  Wounded  as  he  was,  the  I^rince 
managed  to  drag  himself  back  to  the  Pope's  apart- 
ments and  stammered  out  the  name  of  liis  assassin. 
Lucrezia  who  was  present  fainted,  and  her  husband 
was  carried  awa)^  to  a  neighbouring  palace,  in  the 
hope  that  his  wounds  might  not  prove  mortal.  His 
wife  and  sister  prepared  his  food  with  their  own 
hands  for  fear  of  poison,  and  the  Pope  ordered  him 
to  be  watched  day  and  night  by  sixteen  men.  Jkit 
these  precautions  \wi\-e  all  in  vain.  On  the  third  day 
after  the  outrage,  Caesar  arrived  in  the  wounded 
man's  chamber,  ordered  the  women  to  leave  it,  and 
then  called  in  one  of  his  myrmidons  and  bade  him 


232  Til  P.    P.U'.ICV    OF   Al.EXAA'DF.R    /7. 

throttle  the  defenceless  Prince.  The  murderer  made 
no  secret  of  liis  crime,  nor  did  he  hesitate  to  stab  his 
father's  favourite  chamberlain  before  the  Pope's  very 
eyes,  and  in  such  close  proximity  to  Alexander  that 
the  latter  was  bespattered  b}-  the  falling  victim's 
blood.  It  was,  indeed,  a  reign  of  terror.  Alexander 
trembled  before  his  ruthless  son,  and  the  widowed 
Lucrezia  was  forced  to  leave  Rome  at  his  command, 
until  such  time  as  Caesar  should  want  to  use  her  for 
the  furtherance  of  his  own  ends. 

But  this  arch-fiend  in  human  shape  was  not  alone 
in  his  career  of  crime.  A  contemporar\'  resident  has 
left  a  gruesome  account  of  the  rapes  and  assassinations, 
the  plunder  of  churches,  and  the  complete  impunity 
with  which  ever\'  kind  of  enormity  was  committed. 
As  a  specimen  of  wickedness  in  responsible  places  may 
be  mentioned  the  physican  of  the  Lateran  hospital, 
who  used  to  shoot  and  then  rob  passers-by  in  the 
early  morning,  and  poison  rich  patients  who  were 
pointed  out  to  him  b)'  his  confederate,  the  confessor 
of  that  institution.  In  order  to  raise  more  money 
for  his  campaign  in  the  Romagna,  C.'Esar  forced  his 
father  to  create  a  batch  of  Cardinals,  who  paid  the 
vilest  creature  of  the  age  heavy  sums  for  the  doubtful 
honour  of  sitting  in  such  an  assembly  as  the  College 
then  was.  As  for  himself,  he  was  made  Duke  of 
the  Romagna,  and,  under  the  cover  of  religion  and 
a  crusade  against  the  Turk  —  the  general  excuse  for 
acts  of  robber)'  in  that  age — he  took  part  in  the 
expedition  of  Louis  XII.  of  France  against  Naples, 
which  ended  in  the  fall  of  the  House  of  Aragon,  and 
the   establishment    of  the    power  of  Spain    in    that 


M.tRA'/.lCF.    OF   I.rCRE/.IA  233 

sorely-vexed  kingdom.  As  soon  as  the  Neapolitan 
dynasty  had  fallen,  the  Pope  went  in  person  to 
possess  himself  of  the  lands  of  those  barons  who 
had  been  its  allies,  leaving  his  daughter  to  act  as  his 
vicar  in  the  Vatican — a  novel  incident  which  was 
bitterly  criticised  in  Rome.  On  his  return,  her 
marriage  with  the  Duke  of  Ferrara  was  announced, 
and  politicians  saw  at  once  the  real  motive  of  her 
late  husband's  murder.  Her  little  boy,  and  an 
illegitimate  son  of  the  Pope,  together  received  the 
confiscated  property  of  the  barons  in  Latium. 
The  influence  of  the  Borgia  family  had  never  been  so 
widespread  as  at  the  moment  of  this  fourth  betrothal 
of  Lucrezia,  which  cost  Rome  very  dearly.  The 
bride  was  followed  by  a  procession  of  fift}'  noble 
ladies,  the  Cardinals  vied  with  each  other  in  obse- 
quiousness to  her,  and  the  grumbling  citizens  had  to 
pay  the  piper.  The  towns  through  which  she 
travelled  on  her  wa}'  to  Ferrara  spent  large  sums 
on  her  reception,  but  she  w'as  more  feared  than  loved. 
At  Ferrara  she  seems  to  have  reformed  at  last,  and 
her  declining  years  were  devoted  to  works  of  charity, 
and  perhaps  to  repentance. 

Meanwhile,  her  terrible  brother  carried  all  before 
him  in  the  Romagna.  He  seized  the  Duch\'  of 
Urbino,  and  for  a  few  months  the  Republic  of  San 
Marino  lost  its  liberty.  He  was  at  the  zenith  of  his 
power;  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  age  were  his 
servants.  Leonardo  da  Vinci  became  his  architect 
and  engineer  ;  courtly  poets  sang  his  praises.  Nor 
was  his  rule  in  that  turbulent  part  of  Italy  altogether 
an  evil.      He  put  down   petty  tyrants,    and  the  writ 


234  T'///-;  PArACY  of  Alexander  /v. 

ran  throughout  the  land.  His  methods  won  the 
admiration  of  Machiavelh",  if  that  can  be  regarded  as 
a  recommendation  ;  and  the  author  of  "  The  Prince  " 
approved  the  vile  act  of  treachery  by  which  CfEsar 
killed  his  revolted  allies.  But  his  father  was  not 
behindhand  in  crimes  of  this  kind.  The  famous  white 
powder  of  the  Borgia  found  its  way  into  the  cup  of 
the  most  rapacious  of  the  Cardinals,  "  whose  body,"  so 
ran  the  pasquinade,  "  went  to  earth,  his  soul  to  hell, 
and  his  goods  to  the  Pope."  Another  Cardinal,  one 
of  the  Orsini,  was  seized  on  his  way  to  congratulate 
Alexander  on  his  son's  success,  and  hurled  into  prison 
with  other  members  of  that  powerful  clan.  Their 
palace  was  occupied,  and  the  Cardinal's  aged  mother 
turned  out  into  the  streets,  where  she  in  vain  besought 
the  terrified  citizens  to  take  compassion  upon  her. 
It  was  to  no  purpose  that  tlie  Cardinal's  colleagues 
besought  the  Pope  to  have  mere)- ;  he  remained 
ine.Korable  to  their  appeals.  livery  da\'  fresh  batches 
of  noble  Romans  were  thrown  into  the  dungeons 
of  Sant'  Angelo.  It  seemed  as  if  the  da}'s  of 
Tiberius  had  come  again.  Some  people  died  of  sheer 
fright,  others  emigrated  ;  at  last,  the  braver  spirits 
among  the  barons  rose  against  their  t}'rants,  deter- 
mined, if  die  they  must,  not  to  die  unavenged.  They 
attacked  the  Ponte  Nomentano,  and  Csesar  had  to 
hasten  back  to  the  defence  of  his  famil}\  Before  he 
arrived  Cardinal  Orsini  had  been  poisoned — by  the 
Pope's  orders,  it  was  said  ;  another  Cardinal  quickly 
followed  him  to  the  gra\-e,  and  his  property,  too, 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Borgia.  The  next 
\-ictim  was  the  Pope's  confidential  secretary,  who  was 


DEATH   OF   ALEXANDER    VI.  235 

throttled  in  Caesar's  presence.  No  one  was  safe ; 
for  the  minions  of  the  Borgia,  if  no  other  charge  were 
forthcoming,  were  ready  to  denounce  people  as 
heretics  in  order  to  get  money  for  their  employers. 
Then,  suddenh-,  when  this  terror  was  at  its  worst, 
the  tyranny  of  the  hated  father  and  son  received  a 
fatal  check.  I3oth  fell  ill  ;  six  days  later  Alexander 
VI.  was  dead. 

The  report  was  at  once  spread  that  he  had  been 
poisoned,  and  there  was  ample  evidence  for  that 
assertion.  August,  it  is  true,  was  always  a  dangerous 
month  in  Rome,  and  that  year  it  was  particularly  hot, 
and,  therefore,  particularly  deadly.  But  the  Pope 
had  a  fine  constitution,  and  it  had  hitherto  resisted 
the  fevers  of  a  month  which  had  proved  fatal  to  three 
of  his  predecessors.  Moreover,  the  sudden  illness 
of  C?esar  at  the  same  moment,  and  the  ghastly 
appearance  of  the  Pope's  body  after  death,  "  black 
and  swollen,  the  most  horrible  spectacle  ever  seen 
in  a  Christian  countr)',"  as  contemporaries  wrote, 
both  pointed  to  the  emplo}'ment  of  poison.  It  was 
felt,  that  so  wicked  a  man  as  Alexander  VI.  could 
not  have  been  permitted,  if  there  were  such  a  thing 
as  Divine  justice,  to  die  a  natural  death,  and  the 
populace  believed  that  the  devil  had  appeared  to 
him  in  the  form  of  a  baboon  and  took  his  soul  away 
with  him.  According  to  the  best-known  story, 
Alexander  and  his  son  had  arranged  to  poison  the 
rich  Cardinal  Hadrian  at  a  supper-part\'  in  a  vine- 
yard of  the  Vatican,  and,  by  accident,  they  both 
drank  of  the  poisoned  wine.  Another  version  states 
that  the  flagons  of  wine  were  changed  by  the  Pope's 


236       THE    PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    VI. 

butler,  who  had  been  heavily  bribed  by  the  suspicious 
Cardinal.  Whatever  the  real  truth  may  have  been,  it 
is  certain  that  the  supper  took  place,  and  it  soon 
became  the  general  belief  that  the  Pope  had  been 
the  victim  of  his  intended  victim.- 

The  terrible  figure  of  the  Sixth  Alexander  still 
stands  out,  after  the  lapse  of  four  centuries,  from  the 
dark  background  of  the  Middle  x'\ges.  Institutions 
cannot  logically  be  judged  by  tne  men  who  preside 
over  them,  and  it  is  a  feeble  argument  to  condemn 
the  Papacy,  because  it  has  been  represented  by  a 
John  XXIII.  and  an  Alexander  VI.  But  it  is 
scarcely  an  adequate  defence  of  this  poisoner  and 
robber  who  was  styled  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  to  say 
that  he  was  the  product  of  his  age.  No  doubt  he 
was ;  and  if  he  had  been  an  ordinary  mediaeval 
statesman  that  might  be  some  palliation  for  his 
crimes.  But  a  Pope,  in  his  religious  capacity,  must 
be  judged,  not  by  any  relative'standards  of  morality, 
but  by  the  absolute  rules  of  the  religion  of  which  he 
professes  to  be  the  head.  Tried  by  such  a  criterion, 
Alexander  was  less  fit  to  sit  on  the  seat  of  St.  Peter 
than  the  worst  of  convicts,  and  his  presence  there 
seems  to  us  a  profanation  and  an  infamy.  Nor  was 
he  a  great  statesman.  Guided  by  the  one  motive  of 
advancing  the  fortunes  of  his  famil}^,  he  allowed  the 
foreigner  to  enter  Italy,  for  which,  as  a  Spaniard,  he 
had  no  feelings  of  affection,  and  which  regarded  him, 
as  a  Spaniard  and  a  foreigner,  with  little  love.  He 
treated  Rome  as  a  tyrant  treats  a  captive,  and  no 
rich  man  was  safe  under  his  sway.  Efforts  have, 
indeed,   been  made  in   modern    times  to  whitewash 


CHARACTER    OF  ALEXANDER    11.  237 

him  and  his  children,  for  it  has  become  the  fashion  to 
represent  the  great  monsters  of  history  as  the  victims 
of  misrepresentation.  It  is  true  that  the  eminent 
persons  of  Alexander's  period  did  not  receive  much 
mercy  from  the  pens  of  their  contemporaries,  and 
Rome  has  always  been  fond  of  scandals.  But,  after 
making  due  allowance  for  the  malevolence  of  his 
subjects,  we  can  hardly  suppose  that  a  man  so 
universally  hated  and  feared  was  other  than  a 
monster.  No  one  can  doubt  that,  with  greater 
opportunities  for  evil-doing,  he  was  at  heart  one  of 
the  conscienceless  creatures  in  whom  that  age 
abounded.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  he  was  a  first- 
rate  man  of  business  and  a  strong  personality  ;  many 
great  scoundrels  have  been  that.  According  to 
modern  ideas  perhaps  the  worst  thing  that  can  be 
said  of  him  is  that  he  won  the  enthusiastic  praises  of 
Machiavelli.  "Of  all  the  Pontiffs  that  have  ever 
been,"  wrote  the  author  of  "  The  Prince,"  "  he  showed 
best  how  much  a  Pope  could  accomplish  by  money 
and  by  force."  On  his  supposed  tomb  in  the  crypt  of 
St.  Peter's  might  appropriately  have  been  inscribed 
the  verse  of  the  Roman  satirist : — ■ 

"  One  scoundrel  gets  the  gallows  for  his  pains,  another  the  tiara."  ' 

Yet  even  Alexander  VI.  did  something  for  the 
external  improvement  of  Rome.  He  continued  the 
restoration    of   churches  ;    he  fortified   the    castle    of 

'  This  sarcophagus  is  said  to  be  that  of  Calixtus  III.  Alexander's 
ashes  remained  unburied  in  a  wooden  coffin  al  Santa  Maria  di 
Monserrato,  with  that  of  Calixtus,  whither  they  had  been  removed 
in  1610,  till  Alfonso  XII.  of  Spain  had  both  the  Borgia  Popes  buried 
in  a  marble  mausoleum  of  that  church  in  1883. 


238  THE   PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    VI. 

Sant'  xAngelo  with  new  walls  and  moats,  during  the 
excavation  of  which  the  colossal  head  of  Hadrian, 
now  in  the  Sala  Rotonda  of  the  Vatican,  was 
discovered  ;  and  he  laid  out  subterranean  dungeons 
inside  the  fortress  for  his  numerous  victims.  He  also 
built  a  new  entrance  to  the  castle,  and,  for  the 
convenience  of  the  pilgrims  to  the  Jubilee  of  1500, 
he  constructed  the  street  which  is  now  called  the 
Borgo  Nuovo,  but  which  originally  bore  his  name. 
He  restored  the  Porta  Settimiana,  paved  the  Piazza 
di  San  Pietro,  and  erected  a  fountain  there  with  two 
golden  bulls  as  ornaments,  in  allusion  to  his  own 
coat-of-arms.  In  the  Vatican,  the  Torre  Borgia, 
where  he  resided,  and  the  rest  of  the  Appartamenti 
Borgia  preserve  his  name,  though  they  were  only  his 
extension  of  the  work  of  Nicholas  V.  The  Palazzo 
Borgia,  now  called  Palazzo  Sforza-Cesarini,  was 
built  by  him  before  he  became  Pope,  but  the 
University  buildings,  though  not  in  their  present 
form,  were  a  memorial  of  his  pontificate,  To  the 
same  era  belong  Santa  Trinita  dei  Monti,  which  was 
constructed  by  Charles  VHI.  in  1495  out  of  marble 
fetched  from  France  as  a  memento  of  his  stay  in 
Rome  ;  and  the  Spanish  National  Church  and 
hospice  of  Sta.  Maria  di  Monserrato.  The 
foundations  of  the  similar  German  institution, 
Sta.  Maria  dell'  Anima,  and  the  hospice  of  San 
Rocco  date  from  the  Jubilee  year,  1500.  A  year 
earlier  Bramante  had  come  to  Rome,  and,  though 
most  of  his  work  belongs  to  a  later  period,  before 
Alexander  died  he  had  been  employed  on  the 
Cancelleria,  which   had   been  begun   under   Innocent 


240  THE    PAPACY   OF   ALEXANDER    VI. 

VIII.,  and  on  the  Palazzo  Giraud,  which  later  on 
came  into  the  possession  of  Henry  VIII.  of  England 
and  was  used  as  the  residence  of  the  English 
Ambassador  to  the  Vatican.  Under  the  second 
Borgia  Pope  also  was  executed  the  famous  Pietd 
of  Michael  Angelo,  who  came  to  Rome  in  1496  and 
there  began  his  career.  Nor  must  we  omit  to 
mention  the  court-painter  of  this  Pontiff,  Pinturicchio, 
who  was  entrusted  with  the  decoration  of  the 
Appartamenti  Borgia.  Perugino  also  painted  in  the 
Stanza  dell'  Incendio  during  this  reign,  while 
Pinturicchio  was  engaged  in  adorning  the  rooms  of 
the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo  and  in  other  work  which 
has  unfortunately  perished. 

Before  leaving  the  period  of  the  Borgia,  we  may 
cast  a  glance  over  the  city  as  it  appeared  to  the 
visitor  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
At  that  time  its  population  was  about  70,000,  or  not 
quite  one-seventh  of  its  present  inhabitants,  and  it 
bore  little  resemblance  to  the  Rome  of  our  own  time. 
In  the  Borgo,  St.  Peter's  had  still  retained  a  great 
part  of  its  old  form,  and  the  square  in  front  of  it  was 
scarcely  half  its  present  size.  The  Vatican  presented 
an  unfinished  appearance,  and  in  its  vicinity  numbers 
of  innkeepers,  mostly  Germans  or  Swiss,  had 
established  themselves  to  cater  for  the  pilgrims.  In 
this  quarter,  too,  dwelt  many  c;f  the  Pope's  relatives  ; 
the  renowned  Caesar  himself  is  said  to  have  lived  in 
the  Palazzo  Serristori  ;  but  the  Borgo  must  have  been 
quite  as  mean-looking  as  it  is  to-da\-,  when  grandeur 
and  squalor  still  meet  there,  and  the  greatest  church 
of   Christendom    towers    over    wretched    houses    and 


APPEARANCE    OF    THE    CITY  24 1 

ignoble  streets.  Trastevere  had  a  few  years  earlier 
been  enriched  by  the  erection  of  its  St.  Peter's — that 
in  Montorio — but  there,  longer  than  in  any  other  part 
of  Rome,  the  Middle  Ages  lingered  on.  Towers,  the 
strongholds  of  robber  nobles,  still  rose  above  the 
houses  of  the  citizens,  but  the  old  families  had  almost 
entirely  disappeared,  and  many  Genoese  traders  had 
taken  their  places,  while  the  Jews  were,  as  always, 
strong  there.  The  quarter  where  the  bankers  from 
Florence,  Siena,  and  Genoa  had  settled  and  drove  a 
profitable  business,  was  the  present  Via  del  Banco  di 
Santo  Spirito.  In  the  Campo  di  Fiore  were  the 
largest  and  best  hotels  of  that  period,  among  them 
the  famous  Albergo  del  6"cV(",  of  which  mention  is  often 
made.  In  those  days  one  of  the  advantages  enjoyed 
by  its  patrons  was  an  excellent  view  of  the  executions 
which  then  took  place  on  the  square  in  front  of  it. 
In  the  same  district  was  the  poultry  market ;  but  a 
much  more  important  institution  of  the  localit}'  was 
the  famous  statue  which,  known  under  the  name  of 
Pasquino,  was,  with  the  similar  Marforio,  now  in  the 
Capitoline  Museum,  the  only  means  left  to  the 
priest-ridden  Romans  of  expressing  their  opinions. 
The  statue,  which  was  discovered  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Palazzo  Braschi,  was  put  on  a  pedestal  by 
Cardinal  Caraffa  in  1501,  and  was  moved  to  its 
present  position  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  centur}'. 
Opinions  differ  as  to  what  it  had  originally 
represented,  but  all  are  agreed  that  it  became  one  of 
the  most  important  medi;eval  institutions  of  Rome. 
Its  present  name  was  derived  from  some  witty  tailor 
or  schoolmaster  who  lived  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 

17 


242        THE   PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    VI. 

the  name  then  passed  from  the  torso  to  the  epigrams 
affixed  to  it.  A  specially  favourite  date  for  their 
publication  was  the  feast  of  St.  Mark,  April  25th,  when 
the  priests  of  San  Lorenzo  in  Damaso  were  wont  to 
repose  for  a  time  on  a  stone  seat  not  far  from  the 
figure.  The  custom  arose  of  decking  the  statue  with 
clothes  and  painting  its  face  for  the  occasion  ;  in 
some  years  Pasquino  was  made  to  look  like  Minerva, 
Jupiter,  Apollo,  or  Proteus  ;  at  other  times  he  was 
tricked  out  as  Flora  or  Harpokrates,  the  God  of 
Silence.  Silent  he  was  not,  for  in  one  year  he  was  the 
vehicle  for  three  thousand  epigrams.  A  whole  literature 
of  these  lampoons  speedily  grew  up,  and  pasquinades 
in  all  languages  trace  their  origin  to  Pasquino. 

Tyrannical  as  they  were  to  the  rich  and  the  nobles, 
the  Borgia  tried  to  keep  the  common  people  amused, 
and  Rome  was  never  long  without  some  public 
entertainment.  The  Piazza  Xavona,  where  the  city 
market  had  been  recently  fixed,  was  at  this  period 
the  scene  of  the  great  Roman  shows.  There 
tournaments,  races,  and  plays  were  to  be  seen,  and  it 
was  thus  the  centre  of  popular  amusements.  In  the 
midst  of  the  ruined  theatre  of  Marcellus  rose  the 
ramparts  of  the  mansion  of  the  Savelli,  while  in  the 
lower  jiart  artisans  had  made  themselves  at  home. 
Already  the  Corso  stretched  in  a  straight  line  from 
tlie  Piazza  di  \^enezia  to  the  Piazza  del  Popolo, 
though  there  were  in  some  places  vineyards  on  either 
side  of  it  where  now  stand  houses.  The  Capitoline 
Museum  was  then  the  garden  of  the  Monaster}'  of 
.\racoeli,  and  goats  clambered  about  the  Tarpeian 
rock,  which  was  used  in   the  Middle  Ages,  as  by  the 


244  ^^^^•'    /^•^/"■•^CT   OF  ALEXANDER    VI. 

ancients,  as  a  place  of  execution,  until  a  little  before 
the  pontificate  of  Alexander  VI.  The  Forum  was 
very  different  from  what  it  has  become  under  the 
direction  of  Sic^.  Boni.  Houses  stood  there  as  far  as 
the  Arch  of  Titus,  and  the  cattle  market  had  given  it 
the  name  of  Caiiipo  J^acciiio,  by  which  it  was  then 
and  long  afterwards  known.  The  Palatine  was 
abandoned  to  ruins  and  gardens,  overgrown  with 
creeping  plants,  and  seemed  to  a  contemporary 
observer  to  be  a  fitting  symbol  of  the  vanity  of  all 
human  greatness.  In  the  Colosseum  the  ruins  of  the 
palace  of  the  Anibaldi  served  as  a  dressing-room  for 
the  actors  who  took  part  in  the  passion-plays  which 
were  then  performed  there.  Along  the  Ripetta,  as 
we  have  seen,  a  Slavonic  colony  had  settled,  and  from 
it  the  district  had  been  nicknamed  la  Schiavonia,  just 
like  the  Riva  degli  Schiavoni  at  Venice.  The  Piazza 
del  Popolo  was  still  fields,  but  the  adjoining  gate  was 
the  busiest  in  Rome,  and  houses  were  beginning  to  be 
built  there.  In  the  Via  del  Babuino,  so-called  from 
the  figure  of  the  baboon,  which  was  once  to  be  seen 
there,  there  were  only  as  \-et  a  few  small  dwellings. 
The  Pincio  was  overgrown  with  bushes,  and  vinev'ards 
covered  its  slopes  towards  the  Piazza  del  Popolo. 
Around  the  Trevi  fountain  there  was  hardh'  anything 
in  the  nature  of  houses,  but  the  good  water  supply 
soon  began  to  attract  residents  thither.  The  quarter 
round  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore  was  thinl\-  populated, 
and  the  Lateran  had  not  receivcfl  its  present  form. 
The  Quirinal  was  largely  covered  with  olive-trees 
and  vines,  but  the  two  horse-tamers  already  stood 
there,  and    gave  the  hill  its  popular  name  of  Monte 


246        THE   PAPACY   OF  ALEXANDER    VI. 

Cavallo.  The  fine  air  and  the  classical  traditions  of 
a  region,  where  Virgil  was  said  to  have  lived,  induced 
classical  students  to  take  up  their  abode  there,  and 
the  Greek  scholar,  Lascaris,  resided  and  the  Roman 
Academy  held  its  gatherings  on  the  Ouirinal.  The 
Forum  of  Trajan  was  covered  deep  in  rubbish,  which 
had  been  piled  up  above  the  pedestal  of  the  column. 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  the  Eternal  Cit\',  as  the 
Jubilee  pilgrims  may  have  seen  it  in  1500.  More 
ruinous,  but  more  picturesque,  it  must  have  been 
than  the  Rome  which  presents  itself  to  our  gaze 
from  San  Pietro  in  Montorio,  or  from  the  top  of  the 
Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo,  thirty  years  after  the  Italian 
occupation.  Modern  building,  and  also  modern 
research  for  the  remains  of  classical  antiquity,  have 
destroyed  many  vestiges  of  the  Middle  Ages,  until 
the  capital  of  modern  Italy  has  come  to  differ  in 
appearance,  almost  as  much  as  in  morality,  from  the 
Rome  of  the  Borgia. 


X 


ROME   DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 


Ur  to  the  moment  of  his  father's  death  Ciesar 
Borg-ia  had  been  master  of  Rome  ;  the  Sacred  College 
contained  a  number  of  his  friends,  the  strongest 
fortresses  in  the  Campagna  were  garrisoned  by  his 
adherents  ;  he  had  both  money  and  mercenaries  at 
his  command  ;  and,  as  he  told  Machiavelli,  he  had 
made  all  his  calculations  beforehand  as  to  his  policy 
on  the  demise  of  his  father.  But  one  thing  he  had 
omitted  to  foresee — his  own  illness,  and  that  one 
omission  upset  all  his  plans.  Still,  he  did  what  he 
could  in  his  feeble  condition.  One  of  his  followers 
obtained  possession  of  the  papal  treasures,  and  then 
the  doors  of  the  Vatican  were  thrown  open,  and  the 
news  of  the  Pope's  death  was  proclaimed.  The 
people  went  wild  with  excitement,  and  cries  of  joy 
and  revenge  were  mingled  when  the  glad  tidings 
became  known.  But  the  scene  inside  the  dead  man's 
chamber  was  even  more  extraordinary  than  that 
without.  The  ghastly  spectacle  of  the  discoloured 
corpse  terrified  the  servants,  and  it  was  with  difficulty 

that  they  were  induced  to  put  it  in  its  grave-clothes. 

247 


248  ROME    DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

Beggars  had  to  be  heavily  bribed  to  carry  the  body 
into  St.  Peter's,  and  it  was  useless  to  expose  the  feet 
for  the  customary  kisses  of  the  pious,  for  no  one 
revered  the  Sixth  Alexander.  But,  if  no  one  came  to 
pay  respect  to  the  mortal  remains  of  the  late  Pope, 
thousands  flocked  to  feast  their  eyes  on  that  enemy 
of  mankind.  At  last  the  body  was  shoved  into  a 
coffin,  and  the  coffin  placed  in  a  chapel  without  a 
single  candle,  A  black  dog,  so  ran  the  stor\-,  was 
the  sole  mourner,  and  that  dog  was  supposed  to  be 
the  devil. 

Meanwhile  Citsar  la}-  in  the  Vatican,  strongly 
guarded  by  his  retainers,  who  barricaded  the  Borgo 
and  prepared  to  resist  a  siege.  He  was  resolved  to 
dominate  the  Conclave  if  he  could,  and  tried  to 
prevent  the  arrival  of  unfriendly  Cardinals.  But  the 
fury  of  the  people  was  such  that  he  had  to  make  a 
compromise  with  the  Sacred  College  promising  to  obey 
its  decision  and  receiving  from  it  confirmation  of  the 
dignit)'  of  General  of  the  Church.  He  next  separated 
by  timely  concessions  the  Orsini  from  the  Colonna 
who  were  both  thirsting  for  his  blood,  and  secured 
French  protection  for  himself  and  all  his  possessions. 
Then  he  left  Rome  in  a  litter,  surrounded  by  armed 
men,  for  the  castle  of  Nepi,  which  had  lately  been 
rebuilt  by  his  father,  and  the  Cardinals  were  able  to 
meet  for  the  election  of  a  new  Pope,  while  the 
Romans  scrawled  bitter  epitaphs  on  the  old  one. 
After  vowing  that  they  would  reform  the  Church, 
call  a  council,  and  make  war  on  the  Turks,  the 
electors  chose  the  Cardinal  of  Siena,  Francesco 
Piccolomini,   as    Pope,  and    thus    completely    check- 


JULIUS    II.  249 

mated  the  schemes  of  the  King  of  France  for  the 
nomination  of  a  French  puppet  in  the  person  of 
the  Cardinal  of  Rouen.  The  new  Pope,  who  styled 
himself  Pius  III.  in  compliment  to  his  uncle,  the 
famous  Pius  II.,  was  merely  a  figurehead  put  forward 
by  others  as  a  stopgap  until  their  own  time  should 
come.  But  he  was  a  man  of  honest  purpose  and 
pure  morals,  though  an  ordinary  criminal  would 
have  seemed  virtuous  by  comparison  with  Alexander 
VI.  He  owed  his  election,  however,  to  his  weak 
health,  which  prevented  him  from  standing  upright, 
and  in  less  than  a  month  he  was  dead.  Every  one 
knew  that  his  successor  would  be  the  one  strong  man 
in  the  Conclave,  Cardinal  Delia  Rovere,  nephew  of 
Sixtus  IV.,  who  ascended  the  papal  throne  under  the 
name  of  Julius  II. — a  name  which  he  made  eminent 
in  the  annals  of  the  Papacy.  A  man  of  unbending 
character,  made  as  it  were  of  the  oak  which  was  his 
coat-of-arms,  he  was  a  great  ruler,  but  not  in  any 
sense  a  divine.  He  cared  as  little  for  religion  as  for 
theology,  and  his  one  redeeming  moral  quality  was 
his  love  of  truth.  Ambitious  and  unscrupulous  in  the 
choice  of  means  to  his  end,  he  had  let  the  French 
King,  Charles  VIII.,  loose  upon  Italy  in  order  to  over- 
throw his  personal  enemy,  Alexander  VI. ;  yet,  in 
order  to  win  the  Papacy,  he  had  made  peace  with 
Caesar  Borgia,  whose  still  considerable  influence  he 
wanted  so  as  to  make  quite  sure  of  his  election.  But 
the  end  of  that  monster  of  crime  and  deceit,  whom 
Machiavelli  regarded  with  such  admiration,  was  now- 
drawing  to  a  close.  During  the  brief  rule  of  Pius  III. 
he  had  obtained  leave  to  return  from  Nepi  to  Rome, 


250  ROME    DURIXG    THE   RENAISSANCE 

where  he  desired,  so  his  friends  pretended,  to  die  at 
peace  with  the  world.  Many  of  his  towns  in  the 
Romagna  had  risen  against  him  ;  in  the  capital  the 
Orsini  and  the  Colonna  had  forgotten  their  private 
feuds  in  their  desire  to  wreak  vengeance  upon  their 
common  enemy.  The  gates  of  Rome  were  watched 
so  that  he  could  not  escape  a  second  time,  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  Spanish  Cardinals  managed 
to  smuggle  him  into  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo. 
Julius  II.  found  him.  a  prisoner  in  that  grim  fortress, 
and  was  at  first  inclined  to  use  him  as  a  tool  against 
the  Venetians,  who  had  entered  the  Romagna  and 
w^ere  attacking  one  place  after  another  in  spite  of 
papal  protests  that  that  province  was  the  property  of 
the  Church.  Caesar  at  once  announced  that  he  had 
"found  a  second  father"  in  Julius — Julius  who  had 
been  his  father's  bitterest  adversary  and  whom,  under 
more  favourable  circumstances,  he  would  have  sent 
into  exile  or  suppressed.  But  his  dear  "father"  did 
not  trust  him  so  far  as  to  give  him  full  powers  in  the 
Romagna ;  misunderstandings  arose  between  them, 
and  the  Pope  had  Caesar  arrested  and  shut  up  in  the 
Vatican  under  his  own  eye.  The  prisoner  signed  an 
agreement  to  deliver  up  various  strong  places  in 
the  Romagna  within  forty  days,  and  to  remain  in 
custody  until  he  had  kept  his  promise.  As  a  reward 
for  performing  it,  he  was  to  be  allowed  to  go  where 
he  chose.  In  accordance  with  this  arrangement,  as 
soon  as  the  chief  Romagnole  fortresses  were  surren- 
dered, Caesar  was  set  at  libert}',  and  at  once  betook 
himself  to  Naples,  where  he  was  arrested  by  Gonzalo 
de  Cordoba  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain.      His 


END    OF   C.-ESAR   BORGIA  25  I 

arrest  was  an  act  of  treachery,  but  the  world  acclaimed 
it  as  well  deserved,  and  message  after  message  was 
sent  to  the  Court  of  Madrid,  imploring  the  King  to 
rid  the  earth  of  such  a  double-d}'ed  villain.  He  was 
taken  to  Ischia,  and  there  put  on  board  a  ship  which 
had  orders  to  transport  him  direct  to  Spain,  the  land 
whence  the  l^orgia  family  had  started  on  its  career 
of  crime.  For  two  long  years  he  lay  in  a  Castilian 
prison,  the  now  ruined  castle  of  Medina  del  Campo  ; 
then  he  escaped  to  Navarre.  A  few  months  later,  in 
1507,  he  fell  fighting  at  Viana,  near  Valladolid,  in 
an  obscure  local  war,  a  miserable  ending  for  one  who 
had  aimed  at  the  sovereignty  of  all  Italy,  perhaps  at 
the  Papacy  itself  Caisar  Borgia  has  been  called  "the 
greatest  practical  statesman  of  the  age,"  and  in  a 
sense  the  remark  is  true.  For  at  a  time  when 
practical  statesmanship  consisted  of  every  deceit  and 
every  crime,  when  poison  and  the  dagger  were  the 
usual  implements  of  policy  and  nothing  was  con- 
sidered wrong,  provided  that  the  object  were  attained, 
no  man  excelled  him  in  the  arts  of  public  life.  He 
must  be  judged,  of  course,  not  by  the  standard  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  but  by  that  of  the  fifteenth,  not 
by  comparison  with  constitutional  English  statesmen, 
•  but  in  connection  with  the  morality  of  the  Middle 
Ages  as  it  was  interpreted  in  Italy.  Yet,  even  so,  he 
has  left  an  indelible  impression  as  a  great  criminal,  a 
worthy  son  of  his  infamous  father.  His  chief  service 
was  the  unification  of  the  States  of  the  Church  by  the 
destruction  of  a  swarm  of  petty  tyrants  ;  but,  in  the 
light  of  later  history,  it  may  be  doubted  if  even  that 
exploit  was  a  benefit  to  Italy. 


252  ROME   DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

To  restore  the  temporal  power  to  its  full  extent 
was  the  great  object  of  Julius  II.;  so,  as  soon  as  he 
felt  himself  secure  in  Rome,  he  set  out  in  person  to 
subdue  Perugia  and  Bologna  which  had  not  yet  sub- 
mitted to  his  rule.  Both  cities  received  him  within 
their  walls,  and  he  returned  in  triumph  to  the  Vatican; 
arches  and  altars  were  raised  in  his  honour,  and  the 
golden  oak  of  the  Rovere  was  represented,  raising  its 
branches  as  high  as  the  roof  of  a  church.  But  the 
Pope  had  now  to  complete  his  work  by  the  humilia- 
tion of  the  Venetians,  who  still  held  Rimini  and 
Faenza,  and  whose  power  was  a  constant  danger  to 
his  States.  "  I  will  make  your  Republic,"  he  once 
told  the  Venetian  Ambassador,  "  a  fishing  village 
again  "  "  And  we,"  replied  the  Ambassador,  "  will 
make  you  a  small  parson,  unless  you  are  sensible." 
The  answer  to  this  retort  was  the  famous  league  of 
Cambray  of  1 508,  w  hich  united  France,  Spain,  the 
Emperor,  and  the  Pope  against  the  City  of  the  Lagunes. 
In  the  Doges'  palace  at  Venice  may  still  be  seen  the 
painting  which  represents  Venetia  on  the  lion  opposed 
to  Europa  on  the  bull,  in  memory  of  this  unequal  con- 
test of  half  Europe  against  the  Republic.  The  issue 
of  such  a  struggle  could  not  be  doubtful  ;  the 
Venetians  relinquished  one  place  after  another; 
and  when  even  these  offerings  failed  to  satisfy  the 
ambition  of  the  Pope,  they  took  counsel  as  to  whether 
it  were  not  better  to  seek  aid  of  the  Turks.  This 
threat  and  the  growing  discord  among  the  allies 
induced  the  Pope  to  pause  ;  he  reflected  that,  as  the 
Turks  were  now  firmly  installed  in  Bosnia,  the 
destruction  of  Venice  would  remove  the  last  bulwark 


JUr.IUS   II.    AND    VENICE  253 

between  them  and  Ital}',  while  in  any  case  his  foreign 
alh'es  would  be  sure  to  seek  influence  over  the  States 
of  the  Church.  After  due  deliberation  he  made  his 
peace  with  the  once  proud,  but  now  humbled, 
Republic  of  San  Marco  ;  and,  armed  with  a  golden 
rod,  administered  a  light  blow  at  each  verse  of  the 
Miserere  to  the  Venetian  envo\'s,  who  crouched  at  his 
feet  before  the  bronze  gate  of  St.  Peter's.  He  then 
ordered  them  to  atone  for  their  sins  by  visiting  the 
seven  churches  of  the  cit}'.  These  shrewd  men  of  the 
world  were  much  impressed  by  his  behaviour  towards 
them.  "  The  Pope,"  wrote  one  of  them  to  the  Doge, 
"is  a  great  statesman,  who  intends  to  be  lord  and 
master  of  the  world."  Yet,  if  he  was  harsh  to  the 
proud,  he  could  be  generous  to  the  weak.  While  he 
did  not  spare  the  Republic  of  Venice,  he  confirmed 
the  liberties  of  her  little  sister  of  San  Marino,  assur- 
ing the  people  of  his  care  and  protection  in  those 
troublous  times.  His  polic)'  was,  in  fact,  to  play  off 
strong  powers  against  each  other  ;  and,  having 
weakened  Venice  by  the  aid  of  France,  he  now 
sought  to  weaken  France  by  the  aid  of  Venice.  Of 
spiritual  things  he  thought  not  at  all,  and  it  was 
sarcastically  said  of  him  that  he  "  threw  the  ke}'s 
of  St.  Peter  into  the  Tiber  and  kept  onl}^  the  sword 
of  St.  Paul." 

The  breach  between  him  and  King  Louis  XH.  of 
France  grew  wider  every  day.  The  French  were 
furious  with  the  Pope  for  deserting  the  league,  and 
had  no  desire  to  see  him  predominant  in  Ital}'. 
Patriotic  Italians  hounded  him  on  against  "the 
barbarians"  and  urged  him  to  become  the  saviour  of 


254  ROME    DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

the  peninsula  from  foreign  \-oke.  On  the  other  hand, 
reformers  of  the  Church  saw  with  horror  the  head 
of  Christendom,  obHvious  of  abuses  and  careless  of 
councils,  hurrying  to  the  battlefield  and  planning  the 
conquest  of  fortresses  and  the  capture  of  his  enemies. 
A  Synod  met  at  Tours  and  denied  the  Pope's  right 
to  make  war  for  mundane  objects,  while  Louis 
forbade  any  payments  to  be  made  by  his  subjects  to 
Rome  ;  a  fresh  schism  seemed  imminent.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  enemies  and  gout,  Julius  went  on  a  litter  to 
encourage  his  troops  in  the  siege  of  Ferrara,  then  in 
possession  of  a  protege  of  the  I'rench  king.  He,  at 
least,  saw  nothing  inconsistent  with  his  ecclesiastical 
position  in  thus  taking  active  part  in  warlike  opera- 
tions. He  let  his  beard  grow  long,  visited  the 
trenches,  and  exposed  himself  to  fire.  Poets  called 
him  '  a  second  Mars,"  and  he  certainl}'  seemed  to 
have  taken  a  pagan  god  rather  than  a  Christian 
apostle  as  his  model.  When  a  fortress  fell,  he  had 
himself  drawn  up  through  a  breach  in  the  walls  in  a 
wooden  box,  such  was  his  eagerness  to  gloat  over  the 
vanquished.  As  his  malady  did  not  allow  him  to 
mount  a  horse,  he  was  drawn  along  the  rough  roads 
of  the  Romagna  in  a  bullock  waggon  such  as  may 
still  be  seen  in  the  countr}'  round  Rimini.  He  was 
unmoved  by  the  horrors  of  war,  and  would  not  hear 
of  peace.  Then  Bologna  rose  against  him  ;  his 
bronze  statue,  the  work  of  Michael  Angelo,  which 
had  been  placed  over  the  door  of  the  Church  of  San 
Petronio,  was  smashed  to  pieces,  and  the  fragments 
were  melted  down  and  made  into  a  cannon  ;  a  papal 
favourite,  suspected  of  having  betra}ed  the  cit)-,  was 


TUMULTS   AT   ROME  255 

murdered  by  the  Pope's  nephew  in  the  streets  of 
Ravenna.  Fury  and  shame  overwhelmed  the  belH- 
cose  Pontiff;  and,  to  crown  all,  came  the  news  that 
those  Cardinals  who  had  abandoned  him  had  sum- 
moned a  Council  for  the  reform  of  the  Church. 
Rumour  even  credited  the  Emperor  Maximilian  with 
the  bold  idea  of  making  himself  Pope,  and  so  uniting 
the  two  greatest  dignities  of  the  Western  World  in 
the  same  person.  There  was  the  precedent  of  that 
Duke  of  Savoy  who  bad  mounted  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  as  Felix  V. ;  there  was  the  scheme,  attributed 
to  Caesar  Borgia,  of  following  his  father  on  the  papal 
throne.  But  if  the  Emperor  reall}'  meditated  such  a 
step,  his  plan  came  to  nothing.  Julius  was,  however, 
sensible  of  the  real  danger  that  menaced  him  from 
the  threatened  Council,  and  tried  to  parry  it  b\' 
summoning  a  Lateran  Council  himself  as  soon  as  he 
reached  Rome.  There,  at  last,  he  collapsed  ;  his 
death  was  announced,  and  his  rooms  were  plundered; 
the  people  and  the  nobles  made  tumults  in  the 
streets  ;  the  Cardinals  began  to  think  of  the  Conclave. 
One  of  the  Colonna  family,  angry  at  the  refusal 
of  Julius  to  select  Cardinals  from  among  the  nobility 
of  Rome,  headed  a  rising,  and  held  forth  from  the 
heights  of  the  Capitol  on  the  blessings  of  Republican 
freedom  and  the  bane  of  papal  despotism.  He 
depicted  the  wickedness  of  the  priests  and  the  \'irtue 
of  the  people,  and  claimed  a  suitable  number  of  seats 
in  the  Sacred  College  for  his  friends.  Then  came  the 
news  that  the  Pope  was  not  dead  but  had  onl}'  fainted. 
The  agitation  at  once  ceased,  and  the  barons  took 
a  solemn  oath  to  abstain  from  all  feuds,  and   work 


256  ROME   DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

together  for  the  future  in  the  pubhc  interest  and  to 
the  honour  of  the  Pope.  This  pax  Roniaiia,  as  it  was 
cahed,  marked  an  advance  towards  a  civiHsed  state 
of  things,  even  if  it  was  not  a  complete  success.  The 
Pope  had  a  medal  struck  to  commemorate  it,  and  it 
was  certainly  worthier  of  commemoration  than  many 
of  those  quarrels  and  intrigues  which  make  up  so 
much  of  mediaeval  Roman  history. 

As  soon  as  he  had  recovered,  Julius  worked  hard 
at  the  formation  of  a  "  holy  league  "  against  France, 
and  the  adhesion  of  his  late  foes,  the  Venetians,  and 
the  King  of  Spain,  enabled  him  to  proclaim  the 
league  as  a  great  fact  in  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria 
del  Popolo  in  151 1.  He  hired  Swiss  mercenaries, 
alwa3's  at  the  service  of  the  highest  bidder,  and  the 
war  began.  But  the  first  blow  was  a  tremendous 
surprise  for  the  Pope.  About  two  miles  outside 
Ravenna,  not  far  from  the  Church  of  Sant'  Apollinare 
in  Classe,  on  the  dismal  plains  of  that  swampy  region, 
the  French  Commander,  Gaston  de  Foix,  inflicted  a 
crushing  defeat  on  the  papal  forces.  Two  future 
Popes  took  part  in  the  battle,  and  the  poet  Ariosto 
was  also  among  the  combatants.  But  in  the 
moment  of  victory  the  victor  fell,  and  a  column  on 
the  battlefield  still  commemorates  his  fall.  All 
Romagna  at  once  abandoned  the  papal  cause,  Rome 
was  convulsed  with  the  news,  and  the  Cardinals 
urged  Julius  to  make  peace  and  escape.  But  the  old 
warrior- Pontiff  stood  firm;  "I  will  stake  m}'  tiara 
and  a  hundred  thousand  ducats,"  he  said,  "  on  the 
attempt  to  drive  the  French  from  Ital\'."  xA  new 
league  arose,  as  if  b\-  magic,  from   the  ashes  of  the 


A R /OS TO   AS   ENVOY  2^7 

old  ;  Henry  V'lII.  of  England  joined  it,  and  in  three 
months  the  victorious  army  of  Ravenna  had  retreated 
beyond  the  Alps.     Julius  ordered  Rome  to  be  illumi- 
nated in   honour  of  his   triumph,  and   posed   as   the 
saviour  of  Italy  from  the  foreigner — he  who,  four  years 
before,  had  called  the  foreigner  into  Italy  to  aid  him 
in  attacking   an    Italian    Republic  I     Great  was   his 
anger  against  his  enemies,  and  when  one  of  them, 
the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  sent  Ariosto  as  his  envoy  to 
pacify  him,  the  furious  Pope  threatened  to  have  the 
plenipotentiary  drowned  like  a  dog  in  the  Tiber,  and 
the  cautious  poet  hastily  withdrew.     The  Romagna 
again  submitted,  and    Parma  and    Piacenza  became 
for  the  first  time  papal  territor}^     The  services  of  the 
venal   Swiss  were  suitably  rewarded,  and  it  sounds 
like    bitter  irony  to  hear  of  the  contemporaries   of 
Zwingli  receiving  from  the  Pope  the  titles  of  "  Allies 
and    Defenders    of    the    Church's    libert}."      In    the 
meantime,  Julius  had  assembled  his  Council   in   the 
Lateran,  while  the  rival  assembly  had  proved  to  be 
a  failure.     He  stood  at  the  zenith  of  his  power ;  he 
had  beaten  the  French,  he  had  restored  and  increased 
the  States  of  the  Church,  had  evaded  reform,  and 
had  made  himself  the  first  potentate  in  Italy.     But 
Nemesis  fell  upon   him  in  the  hour  of  his  triumph. 
Still     scheming,     planning     the     overthrow     of    the 
Spanish    power    in    Naples,    and    thinking    of    other 
political  successes,  the  old  Pope  died.     When  he  felt 
his  end  approaching,  he  remembered  the  fate  of  some 
of  his  predecessors  whose  corpses  had  lain  neglected 
and   unclothed,   and   bade  them  bring   him  his   best 
clothes  and  his  richest   rings.     As   he  thought  over 

18 


258  ROME    DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

all  that  he  had  done,  he,  too,  like  so  man\'  of  his 
predecessors  in  their  dying  moments,  wished  that 
he  had  never  been  Pope.  For  the  last  time  he 
summoned  the  Cardinals,  and  bade  them  pray  for 
his  soul,  for  he  had  been  a  bad  man,  he  said,  and 
needed  their  prayers.  Then  he  died.  For  a  whole 
generation  there  had  never  been  such  a  crowd  in 
Rome  as  at  his  funeral,  for  every  one  wanted  to  see 
the  dead  man  who,  when  living,  had  filled  the  whole 
world  with  his  name.  Had  he  been  a  king  or  an 
emperor,  he  might  have  passed  muster  among  those 
often  dubious  characters  whcjm  historians  have 
decided  to  call  great  ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  forget  — 
though  he  often  forgot  it — that  he  ought  to  have 
behaved  like  a  priest,  and  he  must  be  judged  accord- 
ingly. By  his  policy  he  unconsciously  dealt  a  blow 
at  the  Church  which  was  long  felt,  and  his  diplomacy 
was  an   unwitting  cause  of  the  Reformation. 

On  the  external  form  of  Rome  he  did  not  fail  to 
set  his  mark.  Under  him  began  a  new  era  of 
splendour,  and  the  golden  age  of  Augustus  seemed 
to  have  returned.  Like  many  great  rulers,  he  wished 
to  leave  behind  him  grand  buildings  as  a  memorial 
of  his  reign,  and  the  age  was  propitious  to  him,  for 
there  were  geniuses  in  plent\-  to  do  his  bidding.  He 
had  the  traditional  Vix^i  fur  building  which  distin- 
guished his  famil}',  and  fulluwed  out  the  plans  of  his 
uncle,  Sixtus  IV.  He  widened  the  streets,  under  the 
guidance  of  Bramante,  the  greatest  architect  of  the 
age,  and  the  Via  Giulia  which  became  the  favourite 
thoroughfare  of  Rome  during  the  sixteenth  century 
bears    his    name.      He   mac'e  the  \^ia    Lungara,   and 


bramante's  plans  for  ST.  Peter's        259 

erected  a  papal  mint  where  the  silver  pieces,  called 
after  him  Giuli,  were  coined.  His  banker,  the 
famous  Agostino  Chigi — head  of  a  Sienese  family, 
settled  in  Rome,  which  resembled  the  Rothschilds  of 
our  own  time — built  the  villa,  which  from  a  later 
owner  has  received  its  present  name  of  Farnesina, 
and  the  architect  of  which  is  now  believed  to  have  been 
none  other  than  Raphael  himself,  though  the  plan  was 
originally  ascribed  to  Peruzzi.  Bramante  was  con- 
stantly employed  by  Julius  on  important  buildings, 
and  the  circular  chapel  in  the  Court  of  San  Pietro 
in  Montorio,  the  Cancelleria,  the  Palazzo  Giraud, 
the  arcades  in  the  first  Court  of  the  Vatican,  and  the 
Court  of  Sta.  Maria  della  Pace,  are  all  monuments  of 
his  genius.  But  his  masterpiece  was  the  plan  for  the 
rebuilding  of  St.  Peter's,  "the  most  glorious  structure," 
according  to  the  admission  of  Gibbon,  "  that  has  ever 
been  applied  to  the  use  of  religion."  The  first  sug- 
gestion for  this  gigantic  undertaking  emanated  from 
the  Florentine,  Giuliano  di  Sangallo,  architect  of  the 
Castle  at  Ostia  and  of  the  Court  of  the  Monastery 
adjoining  San  Pietro  in  Vincoli.  In  spite  of  con- 
siderable opposition  from  the  Cardinals  who  wanted 
the  Church  preserved  in  its  original  shape,  Bramante 
projected  a  structure  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross 
with  a  magnificent  dome  over  the  centre,  placed 
between  two  belfries.  On  April  18,  1506,  the 
foundation-stone  of  the  new  building  was  laid.  The 
Pope  descended  a  ladder  into  the  hole  made  to 
receive  the  foundations  under  the  choir-pillar  of  Sta. 
Veronica  ;  a  goldsmith  brought  with  him  in  a  clay 
vessel  twelve  newly-coined  medals,  two  of  gold,  the 


26o  ROME   DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 

rest  of  bronze,  which  were  buried  at  that  spot.  The 
foundation-stone  was  of  white  marble  and  bore  a 
Latin  inscription  with  the  name  of  the  Pope,  and  it 
is  a  curious  proof  of  England's  international  im- 
portance at  the  time,  that  on  the  same  day  Julius 
sent  a  despatch  to  King  Henry  VII.,  announcing 
that  he  had  "  blessed  the  first  stone  and  signed  it  with 
the  Sign  of  the  Cross."  For  eight  years  Bramante 
worked  at  the  new  edifice,  while  portions  of  the  old 
Church  were  taken  down  to  make  room  for  it.  It  is 
impossible,  however,  to  acquit  the  strenuous  architect 
of  the  charge  of  vandalism  brought  against  him  by 
Michael  Angelo.  Like  many  other  restorations,  that 
of  St.  Peter's  did  a  great  amount  of  harm  to  the 
fabric  of  the  building  and  to  the  monuments  which 
it  contained.  Even  the  tomb  of  Nicholas  V.  was 
broken  in  pieces,  and  beautiful  columns  were  ruth- 
lessly sacrificed.  But  Julius  was  "  an  old  man  in  a 
hurry,"  and  he  gave  his  architect  no  time  to  take 
proper  precautions  for  the  preservation  of  what  was 
worth  preserving.  Yet,  in  spite  of  all  this  haste, 
neither  Pope  nor  architect  lived  to  see  much  progress 
made  with  the  work.  Bramante  began  some  of  the 
tribunes  and  finished  the  four  colossal  pillars  of  the 
dome,  yet  even  that  was  not  final,  for  later  on  Michael 
Angelo  had  to  strengthen  their  foundations.  But 
those  who  wish  to  study  his  plans  in  detail  will  find 
them  in  the  Uffizi  at  P"lorence.  Upon  his  death, 
Raphael  was  appointed,  in  accordance  with  Bramante's 
desire,  to  carry  on  the  work,  and  associated  with 
himself  Giuliano  di  Sangallo  and  Era  Giocondo  of 
Verona.     The    original     plan    was    abandoned,    and 


PROGKRSS    OF   ST.    PETRR's  26 1 

Raphael  substituted  a  Latin  for  a  Greek  cross.  On 
his  death,  only  six  years  after  that  of  Bramante, 
Peruzzi  and  x'\ntonio  di  Sangallo  oscillated  between 
the  Greek  and  Latin  styles,  and  then  Michael  Angelo 
returned  to  the  ground-plan  of  Bramante,  and  one 
Pope  after  another  ordered  his  design  to  be  accepted 
as  final.  But  in  the  early  years  of  the  seventeenth 
century  Paul  V.  was  persuaded  by  his  architect  to 
revert  to  the  Latin  cross,  and  at  last,  after  being  in 
the  hands  of  the  builders  during  the  reigns  of  twenty 
Popes,  the  new  church  was  formally  consecrated  by 
Urban  VIII.  on  November  i8,  1626,  the  thirteen 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  the 
original  building  by  Sylvester  I.  The  cost  was 
enormous,  and  the  contributions  towards  defra}'ing 
it,  which  were  wrung  by  Julius  and  his  successors 
from  Christendom  by  questionable  means,  were  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  the  Reformation.  In  the  words 
of  an  ecclesiastical  historian,  "  Thus  the  material 
structure  of  St.  Peter's  provoked  the  collapse  of  a 
large  part  of  its  spiritual   structure." 

But  Julius  II.  was  not  content  to  build  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  Maecenas  of  the  arts  on  these  great  edifices 
alone.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Vatican  Museum, 
and  placed  in  the  Belvedere  which  Bramante  had 
constructed  at  his  orders  the  newly-discovered  Apollo 
Belvedere  and  the  group  of  the  Laocoon,  the  torso  of 
Hercules,  and  the  Ariadne,  or  Cleopatra.  These 
lucky  finds  stimulated  the  zeal  for  excavation,  and 
Agostino  Chigi  and  other  rich  men  imitated  the 
Pope's  example.  The  great  houses  of  Rome  began 
to  be  filled   with  valuable  antiquities,  which  not  only 


262  ROME   DURIXG    THE    RENAISSANCE 

gratified  the  taste  of  their  owners  but  served  as 
models  to  sculptors.  Among  these  we  may  mention 
Andrea  Contucci  of  Sansovino,  who  executed  for 
Julius  the  tombs  of  Cardinals  Ascanio  Sforza  and 
Girolamo  Basso  della  Rovere  in  the  choir  of  that 
Pope's  favourite  church  of  Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo, 
which  had  been  enlarged  by  Bramante.  The  same 
artist  has  left  another  example  of  his  work  in  the 
marble  group  of  St.  Anne,  St.  Mary  and  Jesus  Christ, 
which  is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Church  of  Sant' 
Agostino.  We  have  already  mentioned  the  name  of 
Michael  Angelo  in  connection  with  St.  Peter's.  That 
great  genius  was  summoned  by  Julius  to  Rome  in 
1505,  and  entrusted  with  the  task  of  designing  his 
tomb.  The  artist  at  (Mice  set  to  work,  and  devised  a 
plan  so  grandiose  that  it  was  never  carried  out. 
The  monument,  as  it  now  stands  in  the  Church  of 
San  Pietro  in  Vincoli,  famous  as  it  is,  does  not  nearly 
represent  all  that  Michael  Angelo  had  intended. 
The  "  Moses,'  its  most  striking  feature,  is  known  to 
ever\-  visitor  to  Rome,  but  the  original  design 
included  allegorical  figures  of  the  pro\inces  subdued 
by  the  Pope,  representations  of  all  the  arts  and 
virtues,  genii  and  angels,  and  the  statue  of  St.  Paul, 
as  well  as  those  of  Rachel,  Leah,  and  Moses.  Above 
them  all,  heaven  and  earth  were  to  have  been  seen 
bearing  aloft  the  sarcophagus  of  the  Pope.  Julius 
was  delighted  with  the  idea,  and  Michael  .Angelo 
went  to  the  marble- quarries  of  Carrara  to  select  the 
best  material  for  the  work.  The  huge  blocks  were 
placed  in  the  Piazza  di  San  Pietro,  and  the  eager 
Pope  often  came  to  see  how  his  own  monument  was 


THE    "MOSES"    OF   MICHAEL  ANGELO. 


264  ROME    DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

progressing.  He  even  had  a  special  bridge  con- 
structed to  give  him  access  to  the  sculptor's  studio,  so 
that  he  might  urge  him  on  to  complete  his  task. 
Perhaps  the  two  men  saw  too  much  of  one  another  ; 
possibly  the  masterful  Pope  did  not  make  sufficient 
allowance  for  the  artistic  temperament.  At  any  rate, 
they  quarrelled,  the  sculptor  took  himself  off  to 
Florence,  the  Florentine  government  offered  its 
services  as  a  peacemaker,  and  finally  Michael  Angelo 
and  his  patron  were  reconciled.  But  even  afterwards, 
other  engagements  hindered  the  completion  of  the 
monument,  and  in  his  last  will  and  testament  Julius 
ordered  the  adoption  of  a  less  ambitious  design. 
Weary  lawsuits  with  his  executors  followed,  and  it 
was  not  till  over  thirty  years  after  his  death  that  the 
"  Moses "  was  erected  in  the  church  where  it  now 
stands,  instead  of  in  St.  Peter's,  where  the  Pope  had 
intended  it  to  be  placed.  An  earlier  work  of  Michael 
Angelo,  the  Pieta,  does,  indeed,  adorn  one  of  the 
chapels  in  the  latter  building  ;  but  his  "  Christ  with 
the  Cross  "  in  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria  Sopra 
Minerva  was  erected  after  the  death  of  Julius.  It 
was  during  that  Pope's  lifetime,  however,  that  he 
painted  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  while  "  the 
Last  Judgment  "  on  the  altar-wall  was  executed 
nearl)'  thirty  }'ears  later. 

In  the  same  year,  150S,  which  saw  Michael  Angelo 
begin  on  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  Raphael, 
at  the  instigation  of  Bramante,  first  arrived  in  Rome, 
where  he  received  a  commission  from  Julius  to 
complete  the  decoration  of  the  papal  dwelling-rooms 
in  the  Vatican,  which  had  been  begun  under  Nicholas 


RAPHAEL  265 

V.  and  Sixtus  IV.,  and  had  been  continued  by 
Perugino  and  Sodoma  under  Julius  himself.  No 
sooner  had  the  Pope  seen  Raphael's  work  than  he 
rejected  that  of  the  two  latter  painters,  and  employed 
his  new  protege  exclusively.  For  twelve  years 
Raphael  laboured  at  his  task,  which  was,  however, 
not  quite  finished  at  his  death  and  was  completed  by 
his  pupils.  Julius  himself  did  not  live  to  see  more 
than  a  part  of  what  he  had  ordered,  but  to  him 
belongs  the  credit  of  having  initiated  an  undertaking 
which  has  cast  a  more  enduring  lustre  on  his  reign 
than  all  the  battles  and  sieges  which  were  his  own 
special  pride  ;  for  the  stanse  and  loggie  of  Raphael 
are  still  the  admiration  of  every  traveller,  while  the 
temporal  power  of  the  Papacy  which  Julius  tried  so 
hard  to  build  up  has  gone  the  way  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 

Even  in  the  hour  of  its  triumph  the  Papacy  was 
being  silently  undermined.  At  the  height  of  his 
power  the  conquering  Pope  little  suspected,  that 
within  the  walls  of  his  own  city  there  was  an  unknown 
monk,  who  was  ere  long  destined  to  shake  the  Church 
to  its  foundations.  The  Papal  Court  did  not  trouble 
itself  about  the  goings-out  and  the  comings-in  of  the 
obscure  pilgrim,  Martin  Luther,  who  arrived  in  Rome 
on  monastic  business  about  15 10.  Ere  he  had 
entered  the  gate,  the  future  hero  of  the  Reformation 
had  fallen  on  his  knees  at  the  sight  of  the  city  which 
he  as  )'et  regarded  as  the  capital  of  Christendom,  the 
holy  place  of  religion,  the  centre  of  the  Church..  In 
his  own  rough  words,  he  was  at  that  time  ready  to 
"believe  every  lie  and  ev'erx'  stink  that  \\'as  invented 


266  ROMP.    DURIXG    TIIR    R EXAISSANCF. 

there."  Yet  a  little  later  he  declared,  "  I  would  never 
have  believed  the  J'apac\-  to  be  such  a  monstrosit}', 
if  I  had  not  seen  the  Roman  Curia  with  mine  own 
eyes."  '  "  If  there  is  a  hell,  then  Rome  is  built  on  it." 
vSuch  was  the  impression  which  the  city  of  Julius  II. 
made  on  the  Wittenberg  monk  on  his  memorable 
visit  to  it. 

As  successor  of  Julius  the  Cardinals  elected 
Giovanni  de'  Medici,  who  took  the  name  of  Leo  X., 
presumabl}'  because  every  Leo  had  been  in  some  way 
distinguished.  The  new  Pope  owed  his  appointment 
partly  to  his  bad  health,  parti}-  to  his  distinction  as 
the  son  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent.  His  manners 
lent  charm  to  an  unprepossessing  appearance,  he 
never  refused  an}-thing  to  a  suitor  if  he  could  help  it, 
and  he  was  so  good  a  diplomatist  that  he  never 
disappointed  even  those  to  whom  he  had  nothing  to 
give.  His  father  called  him  his  "  shrewd  "  son,  and 
those  who  did  not  know  him  ver}-  intimatch'  thought 
him  moral  ;  b)'  comparison  with  Alexander  VI.  he 
certainl)'  was  so.  All  Itah'  was  delighted  at  his 
election,  and  the  Florentines  were  particularly  pleased 
that  the  house  of  the  Medici  had  furnished  a  Pope. 
On  the  anniversary  of  the  da\'  on  which  he  had  been 
taken  prisoner  b\'  wild  Albanian  horsemen  at  the 
battle  of  Ravenna,  he  went  in  pomp  to  the  Lateran 
on  the  same  white  horse  that  he  had  ridden  on  that 
fatal  field.  Never  before  had  a  Pope  displayed  such 
magnificence  at  this  opening  ceremony  :  200  lancers 
led  the  procession,  followed  by  the  servants  of  the 
Cardinals    and    the    minor   officials    of    the    Court  ; 

'   Compare  the  modern  Italian  proverh  :   Kama  7'ediila,  fede  perdiita. 


INAUGURATION    OF  LEO.    N.  26/ 

banners  waved,  and  trumpets  blew  ;  the  noblest 
Romans  rode  beside  the  foreign  Ambassadors,  and  a 
brilliant  deputation  of  the  Florentine  aristocracy  was 
there  to  do  honour  to  the  distinguished  Florentine 
who  had  just  mounted  the  papal  throne.  Behind  his 
Swiss  guard,  2O0  stalwart  mountaineers,  clad  in  their 
yellow,  green  and  white  uniform,  came  the  Pope,  his 
face  even  redder  than  usual  under  the  weight  of  his 
stifling  robes  and  his  heavy  tiara,  blessing  the  people 
as  he  passed  along  and  almost  deafened  by  their 
shouts.  The  decorations  in  the  streets  were  splendid  ; 
the  banker  Chigi  had  erected  a  costly  triumphal  arch 
before  his  palace,  with  a  Latin  couplet  proclaiming 
that  after  the  reigns  of  Venus  and  Mars,  Pallas,  the 
goddess  of  wisdom,  had  now  begun  to  rule.  Foun- 
tains poured  forth  wine  and  water,  and  the  bridge  of 
Sant'  Angelo  was  spread  with  a  carpet.  In  the 
evening  the  city  was  illuminated,  and  the  Pope  at  the 
end  of  the  day  confes.sed  with  childish  delight  that, 
after  what  he  had  just  seen,  he  no  longer  wondered  at 
the  ambition  of  the  Cardinals  to  become  Pope.  He 
was,  like  most  monarchs  on  their  coronation-day,  all 
goodness  ;  he  wished  nothing  but  the  welfare  of 
mankind,  and  bade  all  kings  and  princes  forget  their 
differences  and  join  him  in  a  new  crusade  against  the 
infidel. 

But  it  was  even  harder  for  a  Leo  X.  than  for  a 
Leo  XIII.  to  keep  the  peace  of  Europe.  Italy  was, 
indeed,  enjoying  a  brief  period  of  repose  at  his 
accession,  but  Louis  XII.  of  France  was  not  easily 
balked  of  his  designs  upon  the  rich  Duchy  of  Milan, 
so     long     the    Naboth's    vineyard    of     the    French 


268  ROME   DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

monarchy.  The  dissuasive  arguments  of  the  pacific 
Pope  had  less  weight  with  the  invaders  than  the 
doughty  arms  of  the  Swiss  mercenaries,  whom  he  had 
equipped  for  the  defence  of  the  coveted  Duchy,  and 
the  battle  of  Novara  freed  the  Duchy  of  the  French. 
A  further  piece  of  good  fortune  awaited  Leo. 
Henry  VIII.  of  England  invaded  France,  whereupon 
the  French  King,  in  his  distress,  made  overtures  to 
the  Pope,  renounced  the  schism  which  had  broken 
out  between  the  French  and  papal  parties  in  the 
Church,  and  was  reconciled  to  the  Papacy. 

An  even  more  significant  event,  as  we  should 
consider  it  in  this  colonising  age,  marked  the  second 
year  of  Leo's  reign.  Portugal,  just  embarked  on  its 
splendid  career  as  a  colonial  Power  of  the  first  rank, 
sent  an  embass)^  to  the  Pope,  one  member  of  which 
was  the  celebrated  discoverer,  Tristao  da  Cunha, 
laden  with  gifts  from  India  and  bringing  a  tame 
elephant  and  other  strange  animals.  In  the  name  of 
the  Portuguese  sovereign,  the  envo}-s  laid  India  at 
the  Pope's  feet,  told  him  that  the  Kings  of  Arabia  and 
Saba  would  pa}'  him  tribute,  and  that  his  dominion 
now  stretched  from  the  Tiber  to  the  Poles  !  Plattered 
by  this  rhetoric,  Leo,  in  imitation  of  Alexander  VI., 
presented  King  Emmanuel  of  Portugal  with  a  solemn 
document,  which  assigned  to  him  all  the  lands  from 
Cape  Nun,  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  to  the  two 
Indies.  Thus,  in  theor}',  the  authority  of  the  Pope 
was  extended  over  a  vast  territory  almost  at  the 
moment  when  a  large  part  of  Europe  was  about  to 
emancipate  itself  from  his  influence. 

The  accession  of  P'ran^ois  I.  to  the  PVench  throne 


THE    FRENCH  IN   ITALY  269 

in  15  15  began,  however,  a  fresh  period  of  confusion 
for  Italy,  the  possession  of  which  that  ambitious 
monarch  intended  to  make  the  corner-stone  of  his 
coveted  ascendency  in  Europe.  At  that  time  the 
poHcy  of  the  Vatican  consisted  in  playing  off  Spain 
asrainst  France  ;  and,  as  France  was  for  the  moment 
more  threatening,  Leo  joined  the  league  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  Spanish  monarch,  and  raised 
Wolsey  to  the  rank  of  a  Cardinal,  in  order  that  that 
powerful  minister  might  induce  Henry  VIII.  to 
resume  military  operations  against  the  French.  But 
the  latter  invaded  Italy  without  difficulty  ;  the  Swiss 
mercenaries,  on  whom  Leo  had  again  relied  to  defend 
the  Alpine  passes,  this  time  met  with  a  defeat  which 
ruined  the  reputation  won  so  recently  at  No  vara,  and 
Frangois  I.  entered  Milan.  The  utmost  distress 
prevailed  in  the  Vatican,  where  Leo  at  first  made 
preparations  to  flee  to  Gaeta  or  Ischia,  and  then 
changed  his  mind  and  resolved  to  throw  himself  on 
the  mercy  of  the  victor.  At  Bologna  the  King  and 
the  Pope  met  and  embraced,  and  both  refrained  from 
smiling  at  the  rhetorical  description  of  the  conqueror's 
motives  in  entering  Italy.  Francois,  it  seems,  had 
climbed  mountains,  traversed  crevasses,  penetrated 
forests,  and  waded  torrents,  merely  in  order  to  kneel 
at  the  throne  of  the  Holy  Father  !  After  much  more 
of  this  diplomatic  humbug,  the  pair  came  to 
business,  and  the  King  demanded  as  one  of  his 
conditions  the  group  of  the  Laocoon  !  Leo  at  once 
promised  to  surrender  it,  and  then  sent  the  King  an 
exact  copy  of  the  group,  trusting  that  Francois  was 
not  sufficiently  critical  to  detect  the  pious  fraud.     An 


270  ROME   DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

alliance  was  made  between  France  and  the  Papacy, 
which  pleased  both  parties  ;  Francois  obtained  a  free 
hand  in  Italy,  Leo  gained  a  voice  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  in  France.  Hut  the  balance  remained  in 
favour  of  the  French  monarchy,  which  had  now 
planted  itself  in  Northern  Italy.  Still,  if  the  PVench 
were  masters  of  the  North,  Leo  resolved  that  his  own 
house  should  hold  the  Centre,  and,  with  characteristic 
nepotism,  dethroned  the  Duke  of  Urbino  on  the  most 
frivolous  of  pretexts,  and  handed  over  the  Duchy  to 
his  own  nephew,  Lorenzo  de'  Medici.  Nothing  can 
excuse  this  crime,  which  was  one  of  the  basest  acts  of 
ingratitude  ever  committed  ;  for  when  the  Medici  had 
been  in  exile,  the  ducal  family  of  L'rbino  had  been 
their  best  friend.  But  Nemesis  was  at  hand  ;  Urbino 
rose  at  the  earliest  opportunity  against  its  new 
master,  and  Leo  had  to  raise  money  at  a  ruinous  rate 
of  interest,  all  for  the  sake  of  a  fourth-rate  duchy, 
which  he  had  stolen  from  its  rightful  owner.  By  an 
unfortunate  coincidence,  while  this  war  was  scandal- 
ising Christendom,  Rome  was  the  scene  of  another, 
and  even  more  piquant  scandal,  a  conspiracy  of  the 
Cardinals  against  the  Pope,  which  cast  a  lurid  light 
on  the  morality  of  the  Sacred  College. 

The  author  of  this  conspiracy  was  a  certain  Car- 
dinal Petrucci,  who  had  assisted  in  securing  Leo's 
election,  only  to  reap  the  usual  reward  of  all  political 
services — ingratitude.  The  Cardinal  did  not  shrink 
from  meditating  the  assassination  of  his  ungrateful 
superior,  and  on  several  occasions  carried  a  dagger, 
concealed  in  his  sleeve,  when  he  was  going  to  see  the 
Pope.     But   he  could   not  "screw  his  courage  to  the 


CONSPIRACY    OF    THE    CARDINALS  2/1 

sticking-puint,"  and  sought  refuge  by  hiding  himself 
behind  the  collective  responsibility  of  Leo's  other 
enemies  in  the  College.  There  were,  of  course,  many 
disappointed  men  among  them  ;  one  Cardinal  had 
been  offended  b\'  the  papal  policy  at  Urbino,  not 
because  it  was  immoral  but  because  the  rightful  duke 
was  his  relative  ;  two  others  had  been  told  by  Jewish 
fortune-tellers  that  they  would  each  be  one  day  Pope, 
and  each  naturall)^  wished  that  day  to  come  as  soon 
as  possible.  Having  sounded  his  colleagues,  Petrucci 
decided  that  poison  was  the  safest  way  to  get  rid 
of  Leo,  and  entrusted  the  delicate  commission  to  a 
noted  surgeon.  At  this  point,  however,  some  of  his 
letters  were  intercepted,  and  the  Pope  had  him 
arrested  on  suspicion.  The  surgeon  confessed  all  on 
the  rack,  (jther  arrests  were  made,  and  Rome  learnt, 
with  dismay,  that  the  most  reverend  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  were  charged  with  attempting  to  murder  the 
Holy  P'ather.  At  first  Leo  promised  to  pardon  his 
would-be  assassins,  but  on  further  consideration  he 
retracted  his  word.  Petrucci  was  strangled  by  a 
Moor  in  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo  ;  his  secretary 
and  the  surgeon  were  put  to  death  under  the  most 
fearful  tortures;  the  others  were  released  on  pa\'ment 
of  blackmail  to  the  Pope,  but  two  of  them  died  in  a 
suspicious  manner  after  their  liberation.  The  moral 
effect  of  these  revelations  was  disastrous  to  the 
Papacy  ;  and  the  suppression  of  the  documents 
used  at  the  trial  aroused  the  shrewd  suspicion  that 
the  whole  affair  had  been  trumped  up  to  levy  money 
from  the  accused.  No  one  commiserated  Leo  ;  no  one 
congratulated  him  on  his  escajje.     l^ut  he  was  deter- 


2/2  ROME    DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 

mined  to  make  the  utmost  use  of  the  plot  against  his 
hfe.  He  straightway  created  a  batch  of  31  cardinals, 
one  of  them  at  the  mature  age  of  seven,  and  made 
them  pay  heavily  for  their  red  hats.  The  money  thus 
raised  he  devoted  to  the  conquest  of  Urbino — a  paltry 
enough  object,  and  dearly  bought  at  the  price. 

But  even  then  the  Pope  was  not  content.  Leo  was 
a  classical  scholar,  and  had  thoroughly  mastered  the 
Horatian  maxim  :  "Get  money,  rightly  if  you  can,  but, 
by  any  means,  get  it."  No  Pope  sold  more  offices 
than  he  ;  even  the  Turkish  Government  in  its  worst 
days  was  less  venal  than  this  cultured  and  Christian 
potentate.  The  Curia  had  simply  become  a  stock- 
exchange,  and  one  of  the  Cardinals  in  particular  would 
even  in  our  own  day  have  shone  as  a  company-pro- 
moter. The  P'lorentine  relatives  of  the  Pope  desired 
to  profit  from  their  kinsman's  promotion,  and  the 
Medici  were  a  numerous  clan.  Juvenal  had  once 
complained  that  the  Rome  of  his  time  had  been  in- 
vaded by  the  Greeks  ;  the  Rome  of  Leo  was  a  prey  to 
the  Tuscans,  who  had  all  the  best  posts  and  lived  on 
the  papal  revenues.  The  splendid  munificence,  the 
costly  banquets,  the  luxury  of  the  Pope,  devoured  the 
ecclesiastical  income  which  flowed  into  the  Vatican 
from  the  whole  Catholic  world.  Ladies  of  pleasure 
appeared  at  the  orgies  of  the  cardinals,  and  every 
land  was  ransacked  for  delicacies  to  deck  the  tables 
of  the  Vatican.  To  us  who  know  that  Leo  XIIL 
spends  only  6s.  a  day  on  his  meals,  the  revels 
of  Leo  X.  seem  almost  incredible.  After  every 
course  the  golden  dishes  were  ostentatiously  flung 
into  the  Tiber,  and  then  careful]}-  fished  up  b)'  means 


REVELS    OF    THE    PAPAL    COi'RT  2/3 

of  nets  placed  to  catch  them  !  The  times  of  the  early 
empire  seemed  to  have  returned,  and  St.  Peter,  had 
he  come  back  to  Rome,  would  have  found  neither  the 
amusements  of  the  people  nor  the  morals  of  the  Court 
very  much  better  than  they  had  been  in  his  lifetime. 
The  Vatican  was  full  of  buffoons  and  actors,  who  per- 
formed the  most  licentious  plays  under  the  patronage 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  Pope.  One  wonders  that 
such  a  patron  of  the  drama  did  not  imitate  Nero,  and 
go  on  the  stage  himself  Every  kind  of  entertain- 
ment, classical  and  theological,  pagan  and  Christian 
(if  such  a  term  can  be  applied  to  such  a  subject),  was 
devised  for  the  diversion  of  the  papal  Court,  and  when 
the  Holy  Father  rode  out  to  the  hunt  at  La  Magliana, 
with  hounds  and  falcons,  poets  and  Cardinals,  barons 
and  ambassadors  in  his  train,  he  threw  off  the  very 
last  vestige  of  his  ecclesiastical  character,  and,  dressed 
in  hunting  costume,  might  easily  have  been  mistaken 
for  a  sporting  Roman  noble.  We  cannot  be  surprised 
that  men  like  Ulrich  von  Hutten  wrote  with  horror 
of  what  they  had  seen  in  Rome. 

At  last  there  came  the  da}'  of  reckoning.  Every 
device  for  raising  funds  had  been  tried  ;  new  posts  had 
been  created,  in  order  that  they  might  be  sold ;  and  the 
modern  practice  of  selling  titles  had  been  introduced. 
But  still  the  expenses  of  the  papal  Court  exceeded— 
and  no  wonder! — its  revenues.  Then  Leo,  hard- 
pressed  for  money,  bethought  him  of  proclaiming  an 
universal  remission  of  sins,  which  could  be  had  for 
hard  cash,  under  the  pretext  of  defraying  the  cost 
of  rebuilding  St.  Peter's.  That  edict  was  the  last 
straw.     On    the  last    day   of  October,   15 17,   Luther 

19 


274  ROMP.    DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 

affixed  his  theses  to  the  church-door  at  Wittenberg. 
The  Reformation  had  begun  ! 

Like  the  beginning  of  all  great  movements,  the 
agitation  which  was  destined  to  convulse  the  Church 
seemed  at  first  to  the  Roman  Curia  a  trumpery 
business.  The  worldly  courtiers,  who  surrounded 
Leo  X.,  could  not  understand  the  moral  grounds 
which  were  at  the  bottom  of  Luther's  protest,  and 
ascribed  the  German  religious  movement  to  merely 
material  causes.  Their  attempts  to  crush  the  bold 
monk  of  Wittenberg  onl\'  increased  his  following 
in  Germany,  where  Ulrich  von  Hutten  proclaimed  the 
doctrine  of  a  National  Empire  and  a  National  Church. 
Leo  issued  a  Bull,  declaring  that  every  Christian  must 
believe  in  the  papal  power  to  grant  remission  of  sins  ; 
Luther  replied  that  the  Pope  was  only  human  and 
therefore  fallible.  The  invention  of  printing  was  all 
on  the  side  of  the  reformers,  and  the  pure  text  of  the 
Gospels  which  had  lately  issued  from  the  press  was  the 
best  commentary  on  the  papal  claims.  Leo  published 
another  Bull,  excommunicating  Luther  ;  Luther  hurled 
it  into  the  flames  at  Wittenberg,  and  the  agitation 
grew  apace.  But  the  new  Emperor  Charles  V.  had 
political  reasons  of  his  own  for  not  breaking  with  the 
Pope.  He  decided  against  the  Reformation,  and  at 
Rome  they  burnt  Luther  in  effigy  and  believed  that 
his  work  had  perished.  But  in  the  same  year  in 
which  Luther  appeared  before  the  Diet  of  Worms, 
Leo  died.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  had  made  an 
alliance  with  Charles  V.,  and  espoused  that  monarch's 
side  in  the  struggle  for  the  headship  of  Europe 
between   him   and  P^rangois   L,  and  one  of  his    last 


DEATH   AXD    CHARACTER    OF   LEO.    X.  2/5 

remarks  was  that  the  capture  of  Milan  by  his  troops 
and  those  of  the  Emperor  was  "  worth  more  than  the 
Papac}'  "  to  him.  So  great  was  his  excitement  over 
this  success  of  his  arms,  that  he  fell  ill,  and  a  week 
later  he  was  dead.  His  English  biographer  thinks 
that  he  was  poisoned,  and  there  certainly  were  many 
who  thought  that  at  forty-five  he  had  lived  long 
enough.  At  once  all  his  enemies  raised  shouts 
of  exultation  ;  the  ever-ready  Roman  satirists  said  that 
he  too  had  "  crept  like  a  fox  on  to  the  throne,  reigned 
like  a  lion,  and  died  like  a  dog."  Thousands  to  whom 
he  owed  money  were  ruined  by  his  death  ;  so  empty 
was  the  treasur}',  that  it  was  impossible  to  provide 
new  candles  for  the  lying-in-state,  and  those  which 
had  been  used  for  one  of  the  Cardinals  had  to  be  re- 
lighted !  Onl}'  the  Tuscans,  the  artists,  the  poets, 
and  the  scholars,  who  had  lived  on  him,  lamented  his 
demise,  but  their  judgment  was  too  biassed  to  carry 
much  weight.  Leo  X.  has  been  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  the  Popes,  and  he  was  so  in  the  sense 
that  under  him  Rome  enjo\-ed  a  position  as  a  seat 
of  culture  which  she  liad  not  had  since  tlie  da)-s 
of  Augustus.  But  a  munificent  patron  of  the  arts 
is  not  always  a  great  ruler,  and  least  of  all  when  his 
munificence  is  practised  at  the  expense  of  others.  In 
all  ages  extravagant  sovereigns  are  idolised  ;  in  proof 
of  it,  we  have  but  to  enter  a  Bavarian  village  and 
observe  the  love  which  still  lingers  for  that  mad  spend- 
thrift, Lud\\'ig  II.  But,  apart  from  his  patronage  of 
art  and  letters,  it  cannot  be  contended  that  Leo  X. 
was  a  good  Pope.  He  utterly  failed  to  understand  the 
significance  of  the  Reformation  ;    he  made  no  serious 


2/6  ROMI-:    lUJRIhT,    THE    RENAISSANCE 

effort  to  reform  the  Church  himself  on  moderate 
hues,  and  so  to  obviate  a  drastic  revolution  from 
without.  At  his  best,  he  was  one  of  the  most  cultured 
of  Pontiffs,  and  as  such  his  name  has  a  foremost 
place  in  the  literary  and  artistic  history  of  mediaeval 
Rome.  But  with  all  his  diplomacy  he  remained 
merely  a  diplomatist  without  the  creative  genius 
of  a  statesman. 

The  age  of  Leo  X.  has  been  extolled  by  men  of 
letters  for  its  culture,  and  it  might,  indeed,  be  com- 
pared with  the  Siecle  du  Grand  Monarque  in  France. 
Just  as  French  writers  called  Louis  XIV. /r  Roi  Soldi, 
so  Italian  poets  apostrophised  Leo  as  "the  Sun," 
whose  rays  illumined  the  world.  But  it  was  an  age 
of  imitation,  and  the  models  which  were  chosen  by 
the  authors  and  cultured  men  of  the  period  were  the 
classical  writers  of  ancient  Rome.  The  language  of 
the  heathen  mythology  was  adopted,  as  at  the  time 
of  the  French  Revolution,  and  the  most  unclassical 
personages  blossomed  out  into  classical  names.  St. 
Peter  and  St.  Paul  became  "  the  tutelary  gods  of 
Rome,"  the  Pope  was  addressed  as  "Jupiter,"  and 
the  adjectives  usually  applied  to  that  pagan  deity 
were  transferred  to  him.  Orators  mimicked  the 
language  of  Cicero,  though  as  a  great  scholar  said 
with  much  common  sense,  "  no  one  would  laugh  at 
them  more  than  Cicero  himself,  were  he  alive."  P^ven 
the  papal  Bulls  became  Ciceronian  pamphlets,  and 
Leo  is  said  to  have  imbibed  sceptical  opinions  from 
the  study  of  the  Greek  philosophers.  The  attitude 
of  the  priests  towards  Christianit)'  at  this  time  seems 
to  have  been  much  the  same  as  that  of  the  educated 


SOCIETY   OF   THE   PERIOD  2/7 

Romans  of  the  late  Republican  days  towards  the 
pagan  ritual  of  their  age  ;  they  kept  up  appearances, 
but  in  their  hearts  believed  little  or  nothing  of  what 
they  taught.  The  one  thing  necessary  was  to  be 
polished ;  the  one  thing  forbidden  was  to  be  in 
earnest.  Rome  was  governed  by  witty  and  cynical 
men  of  the  world  who  were  resolved,  in  the  phrase 
attributed  to  the  Pope,  to  make  the  most  of  the  good 
things  provided  for  them. 

Society  had  greatly  changed  in  the  ancient  city. 
The  old  Roman  aristocracy  had  declined  in  influence 
and  wealth  since  the  time  of  the  Borgia,  and  the 
Cardinals  had  larger  fortunes  and  more  luxur}-  than 
the  heads  of  historic  houses  whose  pedigrees  went 
back  for  centuries.  The  middle  classes  had  risen, 
owing  to  the  influence  of  their  wealth,  just  as  in 
modern  England,  and  we  have  seen  how  important 
a  person  was  the  typical  banker  of  the  period, 
Agostino  Chigi.  Hosts  of  needy  poets  and  artists 
sponged  upon  these  millionaires,  and  in  their  venal 
praises  of  their  charming  patrons  we  have  the  germs 
of  the  modern  society  newspaper.  Yet  the  real 
charm  of  all  society  was  lacking — the  presence  of 
ladies — and,  just  as  in  the  time  of  Perikles  at  Athens, 
the  demi-monde  took  their  place.  Even  to  those  who 
have  read  at  school  the  sixth  satire  of  Juvenal,  the 
scandals  of  the  city  under  Leo  must  seem  monstrous, 
and  we  can  only  allude  briefly  to  a  subject  which 
was  then  openly  discussed  by  high  dignitaries  of  the 
Church.  The  Pope  himself  did  not  hesitate  to  cele- 
brate the  union  of  Agostino  Chigi  with  a  beautiful 
Venetian  of  easy  virtue,  and   the  house  of  another 


2/8  ROME    DURING    THE    RENAISSANCE 

famous  courtesan  was  frequented  by  all  the  beau 
inoinie  of  Rome.  So  full  were  her  reception-rooms 
with  costly  knick-knacks,  the  gifts  of  her  admirers, 
that  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  unable  to  find  a 
spitoon,  was  forced  to  spit  in  the  face  of  a  servant! 
Venice  was,  at  that  era,  worse  than  Rome,  but  then 
the  Queen  of  the  Adriatic  did  not  pretend  to  be  the 
holy  city  of  Christendom.  \o  wonder  that  Erasmus 
was  amazed  at  the  folly,  the  wickedness,  and  the 
immorality  which  he  found  in  Rome,  where  the  love 
of  mone\',  honours,  and  ]30wer  was  the  onl}'  motive  ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  nowhere  else  was  there  so 
much  polish,  so  much  classical  learning,  or  so  much 
taste.  Florence  had  no  longer  the  monopoly  of  the 
arts  and  sciences  ;  for,  with  a  Florentine  on  the  papal 
throne,  they  had  gone  to  Rome.  Side  by  side,  the 
revival  of  learning  and  the  decline  of  morals  might 
be  studied  at  the  papal  court  ;  beneath  the  masks  of 
those  elegant  courtiers  there  were  all  the  vices  of 
the  worst  days  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  centre  of  culture  was  the  Roman  Academy — a 
body  of  which  Leo's  secretar}-,  Angelo  Colocci,  was 
the  head,  and  which  enjoyed  the  patronage  of  his 
master.  Leo  was  himself  a  zealous  Latinist,  like  the 
present  Pope,  and  sent  out  agents  in  all  directions  to 
buy  old  manuscripts.  Among  these  purchases  was 
the  manuscript  of  the  first  five  books  of  Tacitus's 
"  Annals  " — the  first  six  as  they  stand  in  modern 
editions — a  work  worth  all  the  Ciceronian  rubbish 
of  all  the  Humanists  put  togetlier.  Leo  reformed 
the  Roman  Univcrsit)-,  gave  the  professors  higher 
salaries,  and  summoned  celebrities   from   other  cities 


LITERATURE  279 

to  teach  there.  A  chair  of  Oriental  languages  was 
created  and  Hebrew  was  studied.  But  in  spite  of 
papal  support  Rome  could  not  compete  in  academic 
distinction  with  other  University  towns.  Rhetoric 
was  the  plant  that  flourished  best  on  Roman  soil,  and 
a  good  speech  was  the  highest  proof  of  culture  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Romans  of  that  day.  Leo  was  always 
delighted  with  an  eloquent  Latin  discourse,  and  he 
once  sat  out  an  oration  (true,  it  was  in  praise  of  him- 
self), which  began  with  Adam  and  traced  the  history 
of  Rome  down  to  the  Leonine  age.  His  special 
favourite  was  Bembo,  the  acknowledged  chief  of  the 
Ciceronian  school  of  rhetoric,  whose  works  have  no 
more  claim  to  the  title  of  original  compositions  than 
the  Latin  verses  of  sixth-form  bo}'s  have  to  the  title 
of  poetry.  Of  more  value  was  the  first  attempt  made 
by  a  Roman  bookseller  to  publish  a  collection  of 
inscriptions  found  in  the  city.  Such  was  the  interest 
which  the  long-neglected  monuments  now  aroused 
that  Raphael  was  seized  with  the  idea  of  drawing  a 
complete  plan  of  ancient  Rome.  The  great  artist 
set  to  work,  visited  the  chief  sites  of  interest,  took 
measurements,  and  instituted  excavations — an  opera- 
tion for  which  he  needed  no  permission,  for  he  was 
himself  official  guardian  of  all  the  antiquities.  He 
laid  his  scheme  before  the  Pope,  drew  up  a  list  of 
the  monuments  which  had  been  ruthlessly  destroyed 
in  his  own  time,  and  was  still  engaged  on  the  plan 
at  the  moment  of  his  death.  But  of  the  fourteen 
districts  of  Rome  he  had  finished  only  the  first,  and 
his  sketches  of  even  that  have  disappeared.  Mean- 
while  ancient    Greece,    as    well    as    ancient    Rome, 


28o  ROME    DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 

occupied  the  attention  of  the  learned,  though  in  this 
respect  the  Romans  were  less  apt  scholars  than  the 
Florentines  and  Venetians.  One  of  Leo's  first  acts 
was  to  call  to  his  side  the  famous  Hellenist,  Lascaris, 
under  whose  superintendence  he  established  a  school 
of  Greek  literature  and  a  Greek  printing-press  in 
imitation  of  that  which  the  banker  Chigi  had  already 
set  up  in  his  own  palace.  Lascaris  lies  buried  in  the 
Church  of  Sta.  Agata  in  Subura,  and  his  tomb  bears 
a  touching  inscription  on  the  hard  lot  which  drove 
him  to  die  in  a  foreign  land  where  he  had  yet  found 
kindness.  It  was  to  Leo  also  that  another  eminent 
Greek  scholar,  Musurus,  editor  of  Plato,  owed  his 
archbishopric,  and  the  famous  printer,  Aldo  Manuzio, 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  publishing  editions  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  authors.  But  the  Pope's  patronage 
was  less  discriminating  in  the  case  of  the  Latin 
versifiers,  apes  of  Virgil  and  Ovid,  whom  he  honoured 
and  rewarded.  No  one  now  reads  the  arid  masses 
of  fifth-rate  verses,  which  were  then  considered  to  be 
quite  equal  to  the  best  efforts  of  the  authors  of  the 
yEneid  and  the  Fasti.  An  English  statesman  once 
confessed  that,  when  he  had  composed  a  schoolboy 
copy  of  Greek  verses  he  fancied  himself  a  second 
and  a  greater  Sophocles.  Such  was  the  modest 
opinion  which  the  glorified  schoolboys  who  in  the 
Leonine  age  were  styled  poets  had  of  their  own 
abilities.  Nor  was  that  opinion  confined  to  them- 
selves. Just  as  British  Prime  Ministers  have  con- 
sidered the  editing  of  a  dubious  Greek  play  a 
sufficient  qualification  for  a  bishopric,  so  Leo  made 
one  verse-writer  a  canon,  and  threw  open  the  doors 


THE   HUMANISTS  251 

of  the  Vatican  to  all  who  could  make  a  pentameter 
scan  with  tolerable  correctness.  But  we  cannot 
afford  in  England  to  scoff  at  this  curious  taste,  for 
we  have  only  comparatively  lately  emerged  from 
a  state  of  things  when  a  false  quantity  damned  a 
Parliamentary  career  and  a  neat  trick  of  versification 
was  an  advantage  to  a  politician.  Every  one  in 
Rome  wrote  epigrams  with  more  or  less  success,  and 
"  literature,"  which  now  means  only  novels,  then 
meant  only  Latin  verse.  A  worthy  Luxemburger, 
then  resident  in  Rome  and  well  known  for  his 
hospitality  to  these  bards,  was  so  pestered  by  their 
effusions  that  he  knew  not  what  to  do  with  them. 
His  trees,  his  ornaments,  his  gardens  were  disfigured 
by  reams  of  verses,  just  as  if  they  had  been  so 
many  hoardings  for  advertisements.  Even  the 
young  nobles  took  to  scribbling  Latin  poetry  ;  and, 
in  anticipation  of  Klopstock's  wearisome  epic,  Latin 
verse-writers  began  to  hymn  the  verities  of  the 
Christian  faith  in  more  or  less  Virgilian  hexameters. 
It  was  felt  as  a  relief  when  there  was  a  revolt 
against  Humanism,  and  its  votaries  at  last  appeared 
ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  every  one.  The  realh^  great 
literary  genius  of  the  age,  Ariosto,  though  he  came 
to  Rome  and  was  admitted  to  kiss  Leo's  toe,  received 
no  post  from  that  patron  of  inferior  scribblers.  For 
the  drama  the  Pope  was  an  enthusiast.  He  wished 
to  be  the  first  to  see  the  new  pieces,  and  he  made 
the  Vatican  the  first  theatre  in  Europe  ;  every  }'ear 
he  summoned  some  celebrated  comic  actors  from 
Siena,  and  never  displayed  the  least  embarrassment 
at  spectacles  which  for  immodesty  may  be  compared 


282  ROME   DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 

with  the  EngHsh  drama  of  the  Restoration.  Even 
some  of  his  contemporaries  mourned  over  the  depraved 
taste  of  a  Pope  who  revelled  in  scenes  of  immorality 
and  made  the  author  of  one  of  the  most  disgraceful 
comedies  of  the  age  a  Cardinal.  This  worthy  was 
the  director  of  all  the  amusements  of  the  papal 
court — an  onerous  task  in  the  days  of  the  Tenth 
Leo.  The  best  thing  that  can  be  said  about  the 
drama  of  that  period  is  that  it  served  as  a  mine 
whence  the  genius  of  Shakespeare  extracted  the 
rough  materials  for  his  plays.  But  in  his  hands 
the  dross  became  pure  ore.  To-day  the  only  value 
that  all  this  stuff  possesses  is  the  historical  evidence 
which  it  furnishes  for  the  state  of  Roman  society.  If 
the  morality  of  a  people  may  be  judged  by  its  enter- 
tainments, then  low,  indeed,  was  the  tone  of  Leo  and 
his  contemporaries.  Our  Charles  IL  would  have 
been  quite  at  home  in  such  surroundings,  yet  he,  at 
least,  had  the  excuse  of  having  suffered  from  the 
ridiculous  restrictions  of  the  Puritans,  against  which 
his  licentious  court  was  the  natural  reaction.  There 
was  no  such  excuse  for  Leo  X.,  for  it  was  long, 
indeed,  since  the  Roman  Curia  had  been  afflicted 
with  asceticism. 

In  the  domain  of  art  Leo  chiefly  contented  himself 
with  continuing  what  his  predecessor  had  begun. 
Raphael  completed  the  two  famous  pictures  on  the 
walls  of  the  Stanza  d'Eliodoro  in  the  Vatican — the 
check  of  Attila's  march  on  Rome  by  Leo  I.,  and  the 
liberation  of  St.  Peter,  l^oth  paintings  contained 
topical  allusions,  for  in  the  former  the  features  of 
Leo   I.  were  those  of  his   namesake  and   the   Huns 


284  ROME    DURING    THE   RENAISSANCE 

represented  the  French,  expelled  from  Italy  after 
the  battle  of  Novara  ;  \\hile  in  the  second  there  was 
a  suggestion  of  Leo  X.'s  own  liberation  from  the 
thraldom  of  France.  Three  years  later,  in  15  17,  the 
Stanza  dell'  Incendio  was  completed,  and  there,  too,  the 
courtly  artist  made  use  of  his  opportunities  to  glorify 
the  Pope.  In  the  picture  of  Charlemagne's  corona- 
tion Leo  III.  has  the  face  of  Leo  X.,  and  the  Emperor 
that  of  Francois  I.  In  the  Loggie  Raphael  designed 
the  scenes  known  as  his  "  Bible,"  and,  as  the  com- 
plement of  that  series  from  the  Old  Testament,  drew 
the  cartoons  for  the  tapestry  which  were  intended  to 
illustrate  the  New  Testament.  But  he  was  not 
wholly  occupied  with  sacred  subjects.  In  the  midst 
of  all  his  avocations  he  found  time  to  design  the 
decorations  for  Agostino  Chigi's  villa,  the  Farnesina, 
painting  the  whole  of  the  Galatea  and  providing  the 
outlines  for  the  Myth  of  Psyche,  which  was  executed 
by  his  pupils.  He  designed,  too,  the  Marriage  of 
Alexander  the  Great  with  Roxana  for  a  summer- 
house  in  the  grounds  of  the  Villa  Borghese — a  work 
which  had  fortunately  been  removed  to  the  Villa 
itself  before  the  destruction  of  the  summer-house  in 
1849.  P^or  Chigi  also  he  painted  the  Sib}'ls  in  the 
church  of  Sta.  Maria  della  Pace,  and  drew  the 
sketches  for  the  dome  of  the  Chigi  family  chapel  in 
Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo,  where  the  great  banker  lies 
buried.  P'or  the  Luxemburger  Goritz  he  executed 
the  figure  of  Isaiah  in  the  nave  of  Sant'  Agostino, 
His  last  work  was  the  Transfiguration,  now  in  the 
picture  gallery  of  the  Vatican,  and  he  died  in  1520 
and  was   buried    in    the   Pantheon.     P'ive  days   later 


PATRONAGE    OF  ART  285 

died  his  patron,  Chigi,  whose  funeral  was  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  of  the  period.  Raphael's  lab(jurs 
were  continued  by  his  pupils,  one  of  whom,  GiuHo 
Romano,  shone  ahke  as  architect  and  painter,  and 
has  left  specimens  of  his  work  over  the  high  altar 
in  the  church  of  Sta.  Maria  dell'  Anima  and  in  the 
Villa  Madama.  The  master  was  indebted,  also,  for 
the  popularisation  of  his  paintings  to  Raimondi,  the 
engraver,  who  was  at  that  time  in  Rome.  But,  in 
spite  of  the  patronage  enjoyed  there  by  Raphael  and 
his  dependents — for  the  great  artist  had  a  whole  host 
of  literary  as  well  as  artistic  hangers-on — there  was 
no  favour  under  the  Leonine  dispensation  for  Michael 
Angelo,  whose  one  Roman  work  at  that  time  was 
the  Christ  with  the  Cross  in  Sta.  Maria  sopra  Minerva. 
Of  sculpture  there  was  little,  except  the  statues  of 
Jonah  and  Elijah  in  Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo  ;  but 
such  minor  arts  as  the  setting  of  jewels  and  the 
inlaying  of  wood  flourished  in  that  age  of  luxury. 
Leo  himself  was  the  owner  of  a  fine  collection  of 
medallions  and  gems,  and  the  goldworkers'  guild 
was  important  enough  to  build  a  church  of  its  own. 
But  Leo  was  not  a  great  builder,  like  some  of  his 
predecessors.  He  did,  indeed,  order  the  construction 
of  San  Giovanni  dei  Fiorentini  for  the  use  of  the 
Florentine  colony  in  Rome,  the  plan  for  which  was 
drawn  by  Sansovino,  and  as  Cardinal  he  had  restored 
Sta.  Maria  in  Domnica  from  the  designs  of  Raphael. 
Those  two  geniuses  were,  however,  occupied  \\ith 
profane  quite  as  much  as  sacred  architecture,  for 
the  epoch  was  more  favourable  to  the  erection  of 
palaces  and  villas  than  to  the  building  of  churches. 


286  ROME    DURIXG    THE    RENAISSANCE 

Tluis  Raphael  designed  his  own  palace  in  the  Piazza 
Scossa   Cavalli,  which  was   built    by  Bramante,  and 
Sansovino  was  the  architect  of  the  Palazzo  Niccolini. 
To  the  pontificate  of  Leo,  too,  belong  the  beginnings 
of    the    P'arnese    Palace,    which    was    continued    by 
Cardinal    P'arnese  when   he   became  Pope.      It   now 
became  the  fashion   to  decorate  the  facades   of  the 
great  mansions,  and  we  are  told  of  one  house  which 
was  adorned  with  portraits  of  the  twelve  Emperors 
and  scenes  from  the  life  of  Caesar.     On  the  Palatine 
there  rose  a  villa  of  the  Mattel  family,  which,  after 
\arious  fortunes,  passed  in  i8i8  into  the  hands  of  an 
Englishman  named   Mills,  whose  name  it  bore  till  it 
became  a  nunner\-.     Leo  bought  himself  a  villa  on 
the   Ouirinal,  and   his   favourite   hunting-box   of   La 
Magliana  was  decorated  with  frescoes  from  Raphael's 
designs.       Yet,    with    all    these    improvements,    the 
Rome  of  Leo  X.  left  much  to  be  desired.     The  city 
was  not,  and  never  will  be,  a  complete  whole.     Fine 
palaces  stood  in   poky  streets,  ruinous  buildings  had 
spacious  villas  for  their  neighbours.     The  Pope  could 
not  destroy  all  the  rookeries  of  the  poorer  quarters, 
nor  yet  widen  all  the  lanes  of  the  old  town.      Perhaps 
it  was  well   that  he  could   not,  for  those  who  knew 
Rome  before  1 870  mourn  the  drastic  changes  of  the 
Italian  occupation  with  the  tasteless  architecture  of 
the   new  districts   that    have  sprung   up    since   then. 
Small,  indeed,  was  the  population  in  the  earl\^  part 
of  the  sixteenth  centur}'  compared   with   what  it  is 
now  that  Rome  is  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.     At 
the  end  of  1899  the  cit}-  contained   512,423  souls,  or 
a  little  more  than  double  its  population  just  after  the 


POPULATION    OF   ROMP.  287 

Italians  entered.  In  the  time  of  Leo  it  could  not 
have  been  more  than  85,000.  And  yet  it  is  said  to 
have  increased  by  one-third  during  his  reign — a 
considerable  addition  when  we  remember  that  the 
Romans  had  little  trade  and  lived  mainl}'  by  supph'- 
ing  the  needs  of  the  priests  and  the  foreign  visitors. 
The  enlightened  commercial  policy  of  this  Pope  in 
removing  restrictions  on  trade  and  abolishing 
monopolies  had  doubtless  contributed  to  this  increase 
of  population.  The  fact,  too,  that  under  him  the 
city  was  at  peace  had  led  many  Italians  to  immigrate 
there  for  safety  and  repose,  and  the  immigrants  were 
not  entirely  of  Italian  stock.  We  have  alread}'  seen 
that  an  Albanian  and  Slavonic  colony  had  been  long 
settled  on  the  Ripetta,  just  as  settlements  of  Albanians 
may  be  found  to-day  at  Catanzaro  and  other  places 
in  the  south.  Spaniards,  Germans,  and  Flemings 
had  formed  little  groups  around  their  national 
churches,  as  the  Florentines  had  done.  Many  came 
and  went,  but  others  came  to  stay.  To-day,  too,  but 
a  very  small  proportion  of  the  so-called  Romans  is 
really  of  Roman  birth.  The  old  families  had  suffered 
from  the  constant  strain  of  civil  war  ;  some  had 
disappeared,  and  those  which  remained  were,  for  the 
most  part,  poor.  Splendid  as  was  the  age  of  Leo  X. 
in  its  outward  appearance,  it  was  not  all  of  gold,  and 
the  cosmopolitan  city  which  he  had  made  the  capital 
of  the  cultured  world,  "  the  modern  Athens,"  con- 
tained much  that  was  miserable  and  mean.  Brief 
was  his  career  as  Pope  and  a  few  )'ears  after  his 
death  came  the  deluge. 


XI 


THE   SACK   OF   ROME: 


A  PROPHECY  had  said  that  a  Pope  called  Hadrian 
should  follow  Leo  X.  on  the  throne,  and  the  forecast 
came  true.  The  Conclave  was  divided  into  two 
factions,  one  of  which  was  on  the  side  of  Charles  V., 
the  other  in  favour  of  Francois  I.,  the  two  dominant 
forces  of  European  politics  at  the  moment,  and  each 
sought  to  select  a  candidate  who  would  be  approved 
by  its  august  patron.  Of  candidates  there  was  no 
lack,  and  the  well-informed  Venetian  Ambassador 
counted  eighteen.  Quite  in  the  spirit  of  a  modern 
Presidential  election  in  America,  bets  were  laid  on 
the  result,  and  the  odds  were  freely  quoted  on 
'Change.  "  Hell  itself,"  wrote  the  Imperial  Ambas- 
sador to  his  master,  "cannot  conceal  so  much  hatred 
and  so  man)'  devils  as  are  to  be  found  among  these 
Cardinals."  Such  was  the  reality  of  an  election 
supposed  in  theory  to  be  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit ! 
Cardinal  Wolsey  was  not  the  least  active  among  the 
candidates,  and  offered  large  sums  for  the  tiara 
which  Charles  V.  had  dangled  before  his  dazzled 
eyes  in  the  meeting  between  the  Sovereign  and  the 


ELECTIOX    OF  HADRIAX    VI.  289 

statesman  at  Dover.  15ut  it  was  destined  that  our 
countr}'man  should  not  break  the  record  of  Hadrian 
IV.  Another  Hadrian,  a  Fleming  of  humble  origin 
from  Utrecht,  who  had  been  Charles  V.'s  tutor  and 
continued  to  enjoy  his  favour,  was  elected  in  1522, 
to  the  general  surprise  and  to  his  own  disgust.  He 
was  at  Vitoria  when  the  news  was  announced  to  him, 
and  would  scarcely  believe  it  when  the  breathless 
messenger  hailed  him  as  "  Holy  Father."  No  one 
had  regarded  him  as  a  candidate  until  it  had  become 
impossible  to  obtain  a  majority  for  any  one  else  ;  )'et 
he  was  so  little  known  in  Rome,  and  therefore  so 
little  disliked,  that  his  election  was  all  but  unanimous. 
No  sooner  was  it  announced  than  the  people,  in  fury 
at  the  nomination  of  an  outsider,  hissed  the  electors  ; 
the  houses  bore  the  inscription,  "  Rome  to  let."  Yet 
Hadrian  VI.  was  a  man  in  whom  the  Apostles  might 
have  recognised  one  of  their  own  kind,  and  the 
Imperial  Ambassador  considered  him  to  possess  the 
two  important  qualities  of  saintly  virtue  and  absolute 
devotion  to  Charles  V.,  whose  creature  he  was. 
Charles  was  delighted  at  the  result,  and  the  Romans 
feared  that  a  second  Avignon  would  be  established 
in  Spain.  For  Hadrian  showed  no  desire  to  hasten 
his  entry  into  Rome,  so  that  in  his  absence  the 
Vatican  was  plundered  by  the  Cardinals,  and  the 
late  Pope's  fine  collection  of  gems  disappeared  in 
the  general  scramble  among  his  numerous  creditors. 
The  city  was  given  over  to  anarchy,  robber  bands 
prowled  in  quest  of  booty,  and  the  plague  broke  out 
and  carried  off  thousands.  As  a  curious  example  of 
the  influence  which  the  classical  revival  then  exercised 

20 


290  THE    SACK    OF  ROME 

in  Rome  ma}'  be  cited  the  case  of  a  Greek  sorcerer, 
who  offered  up  a  bull  in  the  Colosseum  to  appease 
the  injured  deities  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of  pagan 
sacrifices.  As  a  proof  of  the  state  of  public  morals, 
we  may  quote  the  request  of  the  new  Pope  to  the 
Cardinals,  as  a  special  favour  to  himself,  not  to 
receive  bandits  into  their  palaces.  When,  at  last, 
he  entered  the  city  he  was  shocked  at  the  luxur}' 
and  dissipation  of  the  ruHng  class.  He  resolved  to 
set  an  example  to  the  degraded  worldlings  around 
him,  and  would  have  preferred  a  simple  house  with  a 
garden  to  the  pomps  and  splendours  of  the  Vatican, 
desecrated  as  it  was  by  the  obscene  entertainments 
of  his  predecessor.  Long  before  dawn  he  rose  to 
pray.  Some  time  every  day  was  devoted  to  study  ; 
a  single  female  servant  cooked  his  food,  made  his 
bed,  and  washed  his  clothes,  and  his  table  expenses 
were  covered  b\'  a  ducat  a  da}-,  which  he  handed 
every  evening  to  his  attendant.  All  the  army  of 
parasites  was  banished  from  his  palace  ;  the  arts 
languished,  and  Hadrian  was  not  to  be  captivated 
by  the  melodious  Latin  verses  of  poetasters  whose 
language  he  could  not  pronounce  properly.  He 
j^atronised  one  man  of  letters,  but  he  was  an  historian, 
and  the  comic  authors  and  actors,  the  sculptors  and 
architects  who  had  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  Leo, 
murmured  at  the  thick  darkness  which  had  fallen 
on  the  land  since  a  "  barbarian  "  had  succeeded  that 
most  cultured  of  Pontiffs.  The  rigid  economy  of  the 
new  Pope  made  him  shoals  of  enemies,  for,  in  order 
to  pa\'  the  huge  debts  of  his  predecessor,  he  had  to 
cut  down  expenses.     He  dismissed  the  whole  crew 


UNPOPULAR   REFORMS  29 1 

of  servants  at  the  Vatican,  and  of  the  hundred 
grooms  whom  Leo  had  kept  in  his  stables  retained 
only  four.  The  Flemish  attendants  whom  he  had 
brought  with  him  were,  of  course,  unpopular,  and 
the  Pope's  inability  to  speak  Italian  made  him  depen- 
dent upon  others,  who  often  deceived  him  for  their 
own  ends.  Such  a  sudden  reaction  from  the  magnifi- 
cent extravagance  of  Leo  was  certain  to  provoke  a 
counter-reaction,  and  Hadrian  was  soon  hated  by  all 
who  had  made  money  out  of  the  late  Pope's  expensive 
tastes. 

The  reform  of  the  Church  was  a  necessary  but 
thankless  task,  which  added  to  the  number  of  Hadrian's 
enemies.  He  held  the  highly  unorthodox  view  that 
pluralists  should  be  abolished,  and  that  the  sale  of 
benefices,  the  business  in  pardons  and  Bulls,  and  similar 
tricks  of  the  clerical  profession,  were  against  the  ex- 
press teachings  of  Our  Lord.  But  the  great  dignitaries 
of  the  Church  would  have  agreed  with  that  Piungarian 
Cardinal  who,  when  asked  wh)-  he  entered  Buda-Pesth 
in  a  splendid  coach  while  the  Saviour  had  entered 
Jerusalem  riding  on  an  ass,  replied,  "Jesus  Christ 
was  the  son  of  a  poor  carpenter,  but  I  am  an  Hun- 
garian magnate."  Even  the  refusal  of  the  Pope  to 
favour  his  own  relatives  was  considered  as  a  proof, 
not  of  his  honesty  but  of  his  hardness  of  heart.  But 
the  finishing  stroke  was  when  he  declared  null  and 
void  all  those  claims  on  benefices,  for  which  thousands 
of  people  had  paid  in  hard  cash  under  the  rule  of  Leo 
and  for  the  fulfilment  of  which  they  now  clamoured. 
It  soon  became  apparent  that  reform  was  hopeless  ; 
and,  when  the  Pope  imposed  a  tithe  on  the  States  of 


292  THR   SACK    OF  ROME 

the  Church,  as  a  contribution  to  the  expenses  of  a 
new  crusade  against  the  Turks,  he  at  once  reaped  the 
odium  which  is  usually  the  lot  of  the  tax-collector. 
All  the  wits  in  Rome  poked  fun  at  him  ;  even  his 
taste  in  fish  was  pronounced  low  by  prelates  who  sat 
down  to  meals  of  six  hours' duration  and  seventy-five 
courses.  His  condemnation  of  the  Laocoon  as  an 
"  image  of  the  heathen,"  showed  that  he  was  not,  and 
yet  did  not,  like  most  people,  pretend  to  be,  a  con- 
noisseur of  the  fine  arts.  Unfortunately,  he  was  very 
sensitive  to  criticism,  and  he  even  threatened  to  have 
the  statue  of  Pasquino,  to  which  his  enemies  naturally 
resorted,  thrown  into  the  Tiber.  Even  his  honest 
confession  that  the  Church  needed  drastic  reforms 
was  considered  as  a  tactless  admission,  which  would 
bring  grist  to  Luther's  mill.  Nor  was  he  more 
successful  in  his  efforts  against  the  Turks.  Rhodes 
fell,  as  Belgrade  had  fallen,  and  the  three  ships  which 
he  sent  to  its  succour  came  too  late  ;  its  defenders, 
the  proud  Knights  of  St.  John,  entered  Rome  as 
exiles,  like  many  other  Christian  rulers  of  the  Levant. 
One  further  disillusionment  was  in  store  for  the  Pope. 
His  cherished  dream  of  making  the  Great  Powers  of 
Europe  put  aside  all  their  quarrels  and  join  forces 
against  the  Sultan  melted  awa}-,  and  he  found  himself 
tricked  and  deluded  by  cunning  diplomatists  into 
becoming  the  all}'  of  England  and  the  Emperor 
against  France.  Then  he  died,  one  of  the  most 
unhappy  figures  that  ever  sat  on  the  papal  throne. 
Plven  his  death-bed  was  desecrated  by  the  greed  of 
the  Cardinals,  and  when  his  demise  was  announced 
the  Romans  decorated   the  door  of  his  doctor  with 


ELECTION   OF  CLEMENT    VIL  293 

garlands,  as  if  the  worst  instead  of  one  of  the  most 
virtuous  of  Popes  had  passed  away.  No  truer  judg- 
ment has  been  pronounced  on  the  Sixth  Hadrian 
than  that  contained  in  the  brief  inscription  on  his 
tomb  in  Sta.  Maria  dell'  Anima  :  "  Alas  !  how  much 
depends  on  the  age  in  which  the  lot  of  even  the  best 
man  is  cast !  " 

The  Conclave,  which  met  in  1523,  reflected  the  same 
tendencies  as  that  which  had  elected  Hadrian  the 
year  before.  But  this  time  no  foreigner  had  a  chance, 
and  Giulio  de'  Medici,  the  favourite  at  this  and  the 
previous  elections,  was  appointed  Pope,  and  took  the 
name  of  Clement  VII.  P'or  once  the  Roman  adaere 
was  falsified,  that  "  he  who  enters  the  Conclave  a 
Pope,  leaves  it  a  Cardinal."  Rome  was  jubilant  at 
the  victory  of  the  great  Cardinal,  whose  name  recalled 
the  days  of  Leo  X.,  and  hungry  men  of  letters  rejoiced 
at  the  revived  prospect  of  a  splendid  court  and  a 
generous  patronage.  The  fact  that  the  new  Pope  was 
a  bastard  seemed  less  of  a  disadvantage  than  if  he  had 
been  a  saint.  Every  one  expected  great  things  of  him 
as  a  statesman,  and  every  one,  as  usual,  was  disap- 
pointed. He  found  the  world  in  confusion,  a  great 
sovereign  on  the  Turkish  throne,  a  great  movement 
going  on  in  Germany,  a  great  war  just  begun  between 
the  three  most  powerful  Christian  monarchs  of  the 
time — a  war  to  which  he  was  himself  pledged.  After 
trying  to  please  both  the  Emperor  and  the  I^'rench 
King,  he  came  to  the  diplomatic  conclusion  that  the 
latter  would  win,  and  resolved  to  be  on  his  side.  But 
this  wily  scion  of  the  Medici  had  for  once  iDver- 
reached  himself     Not  two  months  after  he  had  sip^ned 


294  ^^HE   SACK    OF  ROME 

a  treaty  of  alliance  with  France,  the  news  arrived  that 
Francois  I.  had  been  defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at 
Pavia,  and  that  Charles  V.  had  vowed  vengeance  on 
the  Pope,  whom  he  had  helped  to  the  throne,  and 
who  had  rewarded  his  support  with  such  base  ingrati- 
tude. It  was  under  these  painful  circumstances  that 
Clement   celebrated    in    bitter    irony    the    Jubilee   of 

1525- 

The  battle  of  Pavia  was  one  of  the  really  decisive 
conflicts  of  history,  and  its  importance  was  at  once 
recognised  in  Rome.  The  Spanish  faction  with  the 
Colonna  fell  upon  the  P>ench  and  the  Orsini  ;  the 
Pope  fortified  himself  in  the  Vatican,  and  made 
frantic  efforts  to  bring  about  a  coalition  of  the  Powers 
against  the  Emperor.  H>'  dint  of  unscrupulous  con- 
cessions he  succeeded,  and  a  "holy  league  "  entered 
the  field,  of  which  the  perjured  King  of  France  and 
the  Pope  were  the  chief  members,  and  the  indepen- 
dence of  Italy  the  chief  object.  But  abroad  the 
"  league  "  began  badly,  while  at  Rome  the  Colonna 
once  more  rose  and  the  populace  hailed  their  rising 
with  acclamations.  The  Pope  appealed  to  the  Romans 
for  aid,  but  his  avarice  had  made  him  unpopular, 
and  his  oppressive  system  of  taxation  had  wounded 
the  people  in  the  most  sensitive  spot.  They  would 
do  nothing  for  a  Pontiff  who  gave  them  no  amuse- 
ments and  took  their  money  to  spend  on  acpieducts 
and  suchlike  fads.  The  Vatican  and  the  Borgo  were 
plundered,  and  even  the  papal  guard  joined  in  the 
sack.  The  Pope  fled  to  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo, 
where  his  attendants  carried  all  that  they  could  save 
from  the  general  ruin  ;  the  papal  tiara  fell  into  the 


SIEGE    OF  ROME  295 

hands  of  the  mob,  and  was  only  rescued  by  the 
Imperial  Ambassador,  who  restored  it  to  Clement, 
and  at  the  same  time  advised  him  to  make  peace  with 
the  Emperor.  It  would  be  difificult  to  imagine  a 
more  humiliating  position,  unless  it  were  that  which 
Clement  next  took  up — the  position  of  a  perjurer, 
who  broke  his  word  the  moment  that  it  suited  him. 
Great  was  the  indignation  of  the  Imperial  party  at 
this  act  of  treachery.  George  of  Frundsberg,  the 
most  famous  fighting  man  in  all  Germany,  threatened 
to  go  to  Rome  and  "  hang  the  Tope,"  and  was  reported 
to  carry  about  in  his  pocket  a  noose  for  the  |jurpose. 
But  the  threat  was  not  mere  idle  bluster.  rSX  the 
head  of  a  band  of  seasoned  warriors,  he  crossed  the 
Alps  and  marched  down  Italy,  while  the  terrified 
Clement  learnt  to  his  amazement  that  here  at  least 
was  a  man  whom  he  could  not  bribe.  But  Frundsberg 
was  soon  unable  to  pay  his  followers,  and  when  they 
mutinied  against  him  it  broke  his  heart.  His  death, 
however,  afforded  merely  a  temporary  relief  to  the 
Pope.  Another  and  more  dangerous  leader,  the 
Constable  de  Bourbon,  who  had  abandoned  the  side 
of  Frani^ois  I.  for  that  of  the  lunperor,  carried  out 
Frundsberg's  plan  of  marching  on  Rome,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1527  arrived  before  the  gates.  Great  was 
the  consternation  at  the  papal  court.  In  vain,  at  this 
eleventh  hour,  did  ('lement  send  an  urgent  application 
to  Henry  VIII.  for  aid  ;  in  vain  he  appealed  to  the 
patriotism  of  the  Romans  themselves.  The  edicts 
which  both  he  and  Leo  X.  had  issued  against  the 
bearing  of  arms  had  deprived  the  citizens  of  the 
opportunity  of  using  them,  and  the  dregs  of  the  world 


296  THE   SACK   OF  ROME 

accumulated  round  the  V^atican  were  very  different 
from  the  ancient  population  of  Rome  in  its  martial 
days.  Those  few  who  could  be  induced  to  fight  by 
pay  or  promises  were  collected  together  ;  the  Pope 
appointed  several  Cardinals  at  so  much  a  head,  in 
order  to  provide  a  war  chest ;  and  strongly  worded 
demands  for  money  were  issued  to  the  upper  classes. 
One  of  the  few  who  responded  to  this  appeal  was  the 
English  Envoy,  who  pawned  his  valuables  and  raised 
troops  with  what  he  had  obtained  for  them.  The 
Vatican  was  hastily  entrenched,  and  nobles  fortified 
their  palaces  against  the  anticipated  siege.  Crowds 
of  fugitives  covered  the  roads  out  of  the  city,  while  a 
prophet  wandered  about  the  streets  announcing  its 
approaching  doom,  and  comjjaring  its  fate  \\ith  that 
of  Troy  and  Nineveh.  Wonderful  signs  appeared  in 
the  heavens,  and  houses  collapsed  from  no  obvious 
cause.  Yet  some,  ever  confident  in  the  majesty  of 
Rome,  believed  that  their  city  was  invulnerable,  and 
that  no  human  liand  could  overthrow  it.  Renzo 
Orsini,  to  whom  the  Pope  had  entrusted  the  defence, 
shared  this  view,  and  Clement,  appealing  to  the 
sacrosanct  character  of  his  capital,  issued  a  manifesto 
against  "the  Lutherans,"  who  were  threatening  the 
Holy  of  Holies  with  their  profane  wea[Jons.  Un- 
happily for  him  the  papal  thunders  had  no  terrors 
for  those  unbelievers.  The  times  had  changed  since 
Leo  the  Great  had  terrified  Attila. 

The  army  of  the  besiegers,  about  40,000  strong, 
and  composed  of  Germans,  Spaniards,  and  Italians, 
lay  encamped  close  to  that  jxirt  of  the  walls  which 
adjoined  the  Vatican.     The  council  of  war  met  in  the 


DEATH   OF    THE    CONSTABLE    DE   BOURDON         297 

Church  of  Sant'  Onofrio  on  the  Janiculum,  where  the 
Constable  had  taken  up  his  quarters,  and  the  German 
soldiers  looked  down  with  hatred  and  the  craving  for 
plunder  upon  the  abode  of  him  whom  Luther  had 
taught  them  to  regard  as  anti-Christ.  All  the  long 
struggles  between  Empire  and  Papac)^  all  the  abuses 
of  the  Church,  all  the  sacrifices  which  Rome  had 
exacted  from  the  peoples  in  the  centuries  of  her 
existence,  seemed  to  be  finished  now.  Fanaticism 
and  greed  were  mixed  in  the  minds  of  these  men, 
who  only  awaited  the  signal  to  begin  the  attack  upon 
the  walls.  On  May  6,  1527,  the  assault  commenced  ; 
and,  favoured  by  a  morning  mist,  the  assailants 
stormed  the  ramparts  of  the  Leonine  city.  The 
Constable  was  one  of  the  first  to  fall,  and  a  shout  of 
joy  was  raised  from  the  battlenients  at  this  lucky 
shot,  fired,  it  was  said,  by  Benvenuto  Cellini.  But  the 
loss  of  their  leader  only  increased  the  ardour  of  the 
besiegers.  The  Germans  gained  a  footing  on  the 
walls,  captured  the  cannon,  and  pointed  them  at  the 
Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo.  Then  the  Spaniards  followed, 
and  the  whole  army  descended  into  the  Leonine  city, 
driving  the  defenders  before  it.  Those  who  resisted 
were  cut  down,  and  the  Swiss  guard  was  almost 
annihilated  after  an  heroic  struggle.  The  Borgo  rang 
with  shouts  of  "  Spain  "  and  "  Empire,"  as  the  enemy 
rushed  through  the  streets,  slaying  and  pillaging  on 
the  way.  Even  the  sick  in  the  Hospital  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  were  butchered,  and  fire  was  set  to  the  houses. 
The  Pope,  who  was  praying  in  St.  Peter's,  had  only 
just  time  to  flee  into  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo  ;  but 
as    he    fled,    he  could    see    the    scene    of  death   and 


298  THE    SACK   OF  ROME 

destruction  that  was  being  wrought  in  his  capital. 
On  the  wooden  bridge  which  connected  the  castle 
with  the  covered  passage  from  the  Vatican,  there  was 
a  stampede  of  fugitives  and  many  were  trodden  under 
foot  ;  one  Cardinal,  who  arrived  after  the  portcullis 
had  fallen,  was  dragged  through  a  window.  All  who 
could  took  refuge  in  the  houses  of  Spanish  or  German 
residents,  hoping  thereby  to  save  their  lives.  Mean- 
while, the  victorious  troops  carried  their  dying 
commander  into  the  city.  He  died  with  the  words, 
a  Rome  !  a  Rome !  on  his  lips,  and  was  laid  on  a  bed 
in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  regretted  b)'  all  his  men.  Then 
they  continued  the  attack  ;  all  Trastevere  fell  before 
them,  but  on  the  Ponte  Sisto  the  papal  forces  made 
their  last  stand.  A  young  Roman,  like  Horatius  of 
old,  tried  to  "  keep  the  bridge,"  and  unfolded  a  red 
flag  with  the  inscription  :  "  For  Faith  and  Country." 
But  he  soon  succumbed,  and  Renzo  himself  could  hot 
stem  the  onward  rush  of  the  Imperial  troops.  He, 
too,  retreated  into  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo.  Rome 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  foe,  and  a  panic  seized  its 
defenceless  inhabitants.  Some  fled  to  the  altars  of  the 
churches,  and  implored  the  long-forg(jtten  saints  t(^  be 
merciful  and  help  them  ;  others  besieged  the  strongly- 
barred  doors  of  the  nobles'  palaces  and  begged  for 
admission  ;  while  others,  again,  hid  themselves  in 
gloomy  arches  and  ancient  ruins,  hoping  to  escape 
the  notice  of  the  murderous  bands  which  scoured  the 
streets  in  all  directions.  At  one  moment  it  seemed  as 
if  succour  were  at  hand,  for  the  inmates  of  the  Castle 
of  Sant'  Angelo  descried  a  body  of  papal  troops 
coming  down  from  Monte  Rotondo  towards  the  citv\ 


LOOTING    OF   CHURCHES  299 

But  at  the  Ponte  Salario  the  hoped-for  cleUverers 
turned  back,  and  as  soon  as  the  hour  of  midnight  had 
sounded,  the  Imperial  troops,  now  free  from  all  fear  of 
attack,  set  to  work  to  plunder  the  city. 

The  horrors  of  that  "  Sack  of  Rome  "  have  left  an 
indelible  mark  on  the  history  of  the  place.  Nothing 
was  too  sacred  to  be  spared,  no  one  was  too  humble 
to  escape.  The  hope  that  the  residences  of  Spaniards 
and  Germans  would  at  least  be  respected  proved 
futile,  for  the  pillagers  recognised  distinctions  of 
neither  race  nor  part}*.  Embassies,  protected  in  all 
civilised  communities  from  outrage  and  attack,  were 
sacked  and  gutted,  and  the  only  argument  that 
availed  with  the  greedy  troops  was  the  payment 
of  a  gigantic  blackmail.  Resistance  was  hopeless, 
for  the  assailants  laid  trains  of  gunpowder  along  the 
walls  of  houses  that  were  defended,  and  blew  them 
up,  defenders  and  all.  The  churches  yielded  double 
loot  ;  for,  in  addition  to  the  rich  treasures  which 
belonged  to  their  foundations,  they  contained  the 
goods  of  the  fugitives  who  had  fled  there  with  their 
pos.sessions  for  safet}'.  The  Germans  even  plundered 
their  own  National  Church,  Sta.  Maria  dell'  Anima, 
and  the  Spaniards  theirs,  San  Giacomo  degli 
Spagnuoli,  which  stood  hard  hy.  Sta.  Maria  del 
Popolo  was  stripped  of  all  its  ornaments  and  the 
monks  were  butchered  in  cold  blood.  The  worst 
passions  of  the  brutal  soldiery  were  wreaked  on  the 
nuns  of  the  convents.  As  for  sacred  images  and 
relics,  they  had  no  sanctity  for  these  marauders. 
The  head  of  St.  Andrew  and  the  head  of  St.  John 
were  of  no  more  account  to  them  than  that  of  the  first 


300  THE    SACK   OF  ROME 

papal  soldier  whom  they  met  in  the  street.  The 
point  of  the  lance,  which  tradition  declared  to  have 
been  that  which  pierced  the  side  of  the  Saviour,  was 
stuck  by  a  German  trooper  on  the  top  of  his  pike, 
and  the  handkerchief  of  Sta.  Veronica  was  used  as  a 
napkin  by  greasy  and  blood-stained  hands  in  many  a 
filthy  tavern.  The  Cross  of  Constantine  in  St.  Peter's 
was  dragged  through  the  Borgo,  and  there  dis- 
appeared ;  and,  as  a  troph}'  of  the  siege,  a  German 
carried  home  with  him  the  huge  rope  with  which 
Judas  was  said  to  have  hanged  himself  The 
Spaniards  did  not  even  allow  the  dead  to  rest  in 
their  graves  at  St.  Peter's.  The  coffin  of  Julius  II. 
was  broken  open  ;  but  the  bronze  shell  which 
covered  the  remains  of  Sixtus  IV.  resisted  all  the 
efforts  of  the  soldiers.  The  altars  were  turned  into 
gaming-tables,  the  chalices  used  as  drinking-cups, 
the  chapels  became  stalls  for  horses,  and  priceless 
manuscripts  were  trampled  under  their  hoofs  like 
straw.  It  was  only  with  difficulty  that  the  Vatican 
library  was  saved,  but  numberless  archives  perished, 
and  glorious  works  of  art  were  carried  off  and  sold. 
It  was  worse  than  the  ravages  of  the  Vandals  eleven 
centuries  earlier.  If  Rome  had  sinned,  she  had, 
indeed,  been  sorely  punished  for  her  iniquities. 

At  the  end  of  the  third  day,  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
who  had  exercised  the  chief  authority  since  the 
Constable's  death,  forbade  further  plunder  ;  but  even 
he  could  not  compel  obedience.  The  same  haughty 
Cardinal  who  had  treated  Luther  with  scorn  at 
Augsburg  was  dragged  and  kicked  through  the 
streets,  till  he  had  found  a  mone^'lender  who  would 


LUTHRR    PRnri.AIMRD    POP  P.  !  3OI 

advance  him  the  amount  of  his  ransom  ;  another 
prelate  was  pulled  out  of  bed,  and  carried  in  pro- 
cession on  a  bier,  while  the  ribald  troopers,  with 
candles  in  their  hands,  sang  the  chants  for  the  dead 
over  his  li\ing  body.  In  this  manner  the  wretched 
man  was  brought  to  Aracceli,  where  a  grave  was 
opened,  and  he  was  told  that  he  would  be  buried 
alive,  unless  he  paid  what  his  captors  demanded. 
A  favourite  amusement  of  the  men  was  to  masquerade 
as  Cardinals  holding  a  Conclave,  and  proclaim  Luther 
as  Pope  in  front  of  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo. 
Perhaps  the  climax  was  reached  when  these  so- 
called  Christians  dressed  up  a  donkey  in  clerical 
garb,  and  compelled  a  trembling  priest  to  give  it 
the  Sacrament.  And  all  the  while  the  Pope  was  a 
helpless  prisoner  in  the  castle,  repentant  perhaps,  at 
last,  of  the  perjured  diplomacy  which  had  brought 
down  such  an  awful  judgment  on  Rome.  At  times 
he  wished  he  had  never  been  born,  and  his  wish  was 
probably  shared  by  most  of  his  fellow-prisoners. 
A  constant  bombardment  was  kept  up  by  the 
Imperialists,  and  hunger  began  to  have  its  effect 
on  the  garrison.  The  most  dainty  dish  at  the  Pope's 
table  was  donkey's  flesh — a  great  change  from 
the  banquets  of  Leo  X.  and  Chigi.  And,  when  the 
smoke  of  the  enem)''s  cannon  lifted,  Clement  could 
see  the  flames  rising  from  his  villa  on  Monte  Mario, 
to  which  his  bitter  foe,  Pompeo  Colonna  had  set  fire. 
His  one  hope  left  was  that  the  Duke  of  Urbino,  \\ho 
was  not  far  off,  would  march  to  his  aid,  and  the 
historian,  Guicciardini,  who  was  with  the  Duke, 
urged   him   at  all  costs  to   make  the  attempt.     But 


302  THE    SACK   OF  ROME 

the  Duke  had  received  bad  treatment  from  the 
Medici  family,  and  was  disincHned  to  run  risks 
because  one  of  them  was  shut  up  in  Sant'  Angelo. 
He,  too,  withdrew  from  the  vicinity  of  Rome  ;  so 
Clement,  abandoned  b}'  every  one,  was  forced  to 
capitulate.  .\  month  after  the  sack  had  begun,  he 
surrendered,  pledging  himself  to  remain  with  the 
Cardinals  as  hostages  in  the  castle  until  he  had  paid 
the  huge  ransom  which  the  victors  demanded.  In 
order  to  raise  the  money  for  the  first  instalment,  he 
was  obliged  to  get  Benvenuto  Cellini,  who  had  been 
in  charge  of  the  artillery  during  the  defence  of  Sant' 
Angelo,  to  melt  down  the  papal  tiara.  Imperial 
troops  replaced  the  papal  guards  in  the  castle,  and  then 
the  bulk  of  the  conquering  army  retired  to  summer 
quarters  in  Umbria  in  order  to  avoid  the  fever  and 
famine  that  had  taken  possession  of  Rome.  But 
Clement  was  left  behind  in  the  fever-stricken  city 
in  a  pitiful  plight.  He  was  closely  watched  by  his 
gaolers  ;  he  was  almost  penniless  ;  he  was  allowed 
to  see  no  one  from  outside  without  strict  precautions; 
the  one  thing  permitted  to  him  was  to  implore  the 
clemenc)'  of  tlie  Emperor  and  the  good  offices  of  the 
other  Powers. 

The  news  of  the  capture  of  Rome  had  made  an 
immense  impression  abroad,  where  it  was  received 
with  mixed  feelings.  The  Lutherans  and  not  a  few 
religious  Catholics  rejoiced  that  the  Papacy  had  been 
punished  for  its  sins  ;  the  Imperialists  hailed  the 
downfall  of  a  cit}-  which  had  defied  the  P^mperor  ; 
England  and  Erance  were,  however,  frightened  of  the 
conqueror,    though    not    particularl}'    sorry     for    the 


IVOLSf:]-   S.II'FS    CLEMF.XT    ]/f.  3O3 

conquered;  and  Wolsey  told  Hcnr)' X'lll.  that  tlic 
deposition  of  Clement  would  hinder  his  divorce  with 
Catherine  of  Aragon.  An  Anglo-French  alliance 
was,  therefore,  formed  for  the  Pioly  Father's 
deliverance  out  of  the  hand  of  the  oppressor.  The 
Emperor,  while  deploring  the  outrages  of  his  army, 
asserted,  not  without  reason,  that  the  Pope  was 
himself  to  blame  for  what  had  happened,  and  that 
Providence  had  visited  him  thus  heavily  for  his 
offences.  In  the  meantime,  while  Charles  V.  was 
considering  what  he  should  do  with  his  captive,  the 
Imperial  troops  returned  to  Rome  and  carried  off 
any  plunder  which  they  had  overlooked  during  their 
previous  visitation.  Not  content  with  their  booty, 
the}^  insisted  on  receiving  the  hostages  mentioned  in 
the  convention ;  Clement  was  forced  to  surrender 
them,  and  these  eminent  prelates,  one  of  them  after- 
wards Pope  Julius  III.,  were  chained  in  couples  and 
so  dragged  to  the  hostile  encampment  on  the  Campo 
di  Fiore.  Then  Charles's  plenipotentiar}'  signed  a 
definite  agreement  with  Clement,  promising  to 
restore  to  him  his  freedom  and  his  estates,  and  thus 
an  unrivalled  chance  of  abolishing  the  temporal 
power  was  allowed  to  slip.  But  Charles,  masterful 
as  he  was,  could  not  afford  to  affront  the  coalition 
of  the  Powers  which  was  forming  against  him  under 
the  leadership  of  Wolse}-.  Nor  was  public  opinion 
in  Catholic  Spain  ripe  for  such  a  drastic  measure. 
The  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  was  sa^•ed  in  1527 
by  the  same  means  which  in  our  own  da}'s  have 
preserved  the  European  dominions  of  the  Sultan — by 
the  jealous)'  of  the  sovereigns  of  Europe.     Clement 


304  THE    SACK    OF   ROME 

was  permitted  to  slip  away  by  night  to  Orvieto, 
and  Rome  was  given  back  to  the  papal  authorities. 
Yet  the  miserable  condition  of  the  Pope's  court  at 
Orvieto  was  not  much  better  than  it  had  been  in 
Sant'  Angelo.  The  English  envoys  who  sought  an 
audience  of  him  there  were  astounded  at  the  poverty 
of  his  furniture  and  the  lack  of  all  comfort  in  his 
rooms.  Even  more  wretched  was  the  state  of  his 
mind,  torn  between  the  urgent  dem.ands  of  France 
and  England  on  the  one  side,  and  the  fear  of  incurring 
anew  the  wrath  of  the  Emperor  on  the  other.  At 
last,  when  Charles  seemed  to  be  getting  the  better 
of  the  coalition,  Clement  declared  for  him  and 
returned,  at  his  request,  to  Rome. 

Deplorable,  indeed,  was  the  aspect  of  that  once 
flourishing  city  on  his  arrival.  Four-fifths  of  the 
houses  were  unoccupied,  the  population  had  sunk  to 
thirty-two  thousand  ;  and  as  the  Pope  rode  through 
the  streets,  he  could  not  refrain  from  tears,  and 
spread  out  his  arms  to  Heaven  for  mercy,  while 
the  starving  remnant  of  the  inhabitants  shouted 
reproachfull}'  at  him.  Rome  was  no  longer  the  home 
of  art  and  culture  that  it  had  been  so  few  short  years 
before,  and  artists  and  scholars  lamented  the  terrible 
catastrophe  of  the  city,  without  being  able  to  revive 
its  former  glories.  "  In  truth,"  wrote  Erasmus,  "  this 
was  the  destruction  not  of  the  city,  but  of  the  world." 
Clement  was  not  the  man  to  restore  Rome,  for  the 
chief  aim  of  his  policy  was  the  subjugation  of 
Florence  to  the  rule  of  his  family,  and  on  that 
condition  he  was  read}'  to  do  whatever  the  Emperor 
wanted.     The    latter    came    to    Ital)'   and    met   the 


INUNDAriO.V    OF    I53O  305 

Pope  at  Bologna,  where  peace  was  signed  and  his 
coronation  took  place.  Pius  VII.,  forced  to  crown 
Napoleon  I.  in  Paris,  was  not  a  more  pitiable  figure 
than  Clement  VII.,  crowning  his  conqueror  at 
Bologna.  Having  stooped  so  low,  he  was  resolved 
to  have  his  reward,  and  the  savage  way  in  which  he 
planned  the  destruction  of  Florence  moved  even 
seasoned  diplomatists  to  make  appeals  to  his 
humanity.  But  not  all  that  he  had  seen  in  Rome 
induced  him  to  be  merciful  to  his  native  city,  and 
P'lorence  fell  and  freedom  with  her.  Even  the 
terrible  inundation  of  the  Tiber  in  1530,  one  of  the 
worst  ever  experienced,  which  destroyed  nearly  six 
hundred  houses  and  swept  away  the  Ponte  Sisto, 
left  him  unconcerned.  Romans  might  die  of  hunger 
and  plague,  provided  that  the  Medici  reigned.  His 
greatest  triumph  was  the  marriage  of  his  niece, 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  with  the  future  King  of  France, 
and  the  result  of  that  triumph  was  the  massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew  ! 

Clement  did  not  long  survive  the  success  of  his 
schemes.  When  he  felt  his  end  approaching,  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  Emperor,  in  which  the  future  of 
the  Papacy  and  the  future  of  his  nephews  received 
unequal  attention.  He  died  in  1534,  regretted  by 
few,  one  of  the  most  unfortunate,  yet  not  one  of  the 
worst,  of  the  Popes,  and  was  buried,  like  Leo.  X.,  in 
the  choir  of  Sta.  Maria  sopra  Miner\a.  There  may 
still  be  seen  the  monuments  of  the  first  two  Medici 
Popes — of  him  who  reigned  over  the  city  in  a  brief 
blaze  of  glory  and  of  him  who  saw  it  a  mass  of  ruins. 


21 


XII 


THE    INQUISITION    AND   THE   JESUITS 


The  successor  of  Clement  VII.  was  Alessandro 
Farnese,  who  took  the  name  of  Paul  III.  The  new 
Pope  had  first  risen  to  eminence  under  Alexander  VI., 
who  had  made  him  Treasurer — an  important  post, 
which  he  continued  to  hold  after  that  Pontiff's  death. 
He  was  popular  with  the  citizens  and  had  not  only 
won  but  kept  the  confidence  of  successive  Popes  of 
very  different  characteristics.  The  enthusiasm  which 
greeted  his  election  and  which  found  expression  in  a 
sham  fight  before  St.  Peter's,  was  a  favourable  omen 
for  his  pontificate  after  the  evil  days  of  his  pre- 
decessor. But  the  task  of  saving  and,  if  possible, 
increasing,  the  authority  of  the  Papacy,  was  no  easy 
one  in  that  epoch  of  reform. 

The  entry  of  Charles  V.  into  Rome  in  1536  on  his 
triumphal  progress  through  Italy  was  an  important 
event  for  the  cit\'.  The  most  powerful  monarch  of 
the  age,  who  had  just  returned  from  his  successful 
expedition  against  I'unis,  approached  Rome  by  the 
Appian   Wa}',  where    the    statues    of  the    first    three 

kings  of  the   cit)'  greeted   his  arrival.     The  citizens 

306 


(  HARLES    r.    /.V   A'OA/E  30/ 

had  decked  their  houses  all  along  the  line  of  route, 
while  the  Pope  was  waiting  ready  to  receive  the 
great  Emperor  on  the  steps  of  St.  Peter's.  Charles 
resided  in  what  is  now  the  Palazzo  Vidoni,  then  the 
property  of  the  Caffarelli  family,  during  his  stay  in 
Rome,  which  was  indirectly  the  cause  of  a  great 
alteration  in  the  appearance  of  the  old  town.  P'or, 
in  order  to  make  way  for  the  conqueror  to  ride, 
some  two  hundred  houses  and  several  churches  were 
swept  away  between  the  beginning  of  the  Appian 
road  and  the  Capitol,  the  central  approach  to  which, 
known  as  /a  cordonnata,  was  also  constructed  on  the 
same  occasion.  Paul's  reign  of  fifteen  years  was, 
quite  apart  from  this  incident,  productive  of  much 
change  in  Rome.  Almost  immediate!}'  after  his 
election  he  appointed  a  certain  Manetti  as  Commis- 
sioner for  the  monuments  of  the  city  and  suburbs, 
with  special  instructions  "  to  preserve  all  statues, 
inscriptions,  and  blocks  of  marble,  free  them  from 
brushwood  and  ivy,  and  prevent  the  erection  of  new 
buildings  on  them,  or  their  destruction,  conversion 
into  lime,  or  removal  from  the  cit\-."  Manetti  held 
this  post  till  his  death,  when  an(jthcr  person  was 
app(jinted  to  succeed  him.  Under  this  Pope,  too, 
excavations  were  begun  on  the  north  and  south  of 
the  Forum,  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  Schola 
Xantha  and  of  the  fragments  of  \\\q  fasti  coiisidares 
or  lists  of  Roman  Consuls,  which  are  now  [^reserved 
in  the  Palazzo  dei  Conservatory  Tlicse  latter  were 
unearthed  in  1 54')  near  the  Church  of  Sta.  Maria 
Liberatrice,  which  was  pulled  down  in  Januarx',  1900. 
By    Paul's    command,   the    huge    granite   basin,  now 


308  THE   IXQUISITION   AND    THE   JESUITS 

used  for  the  fountain  in  front  of  the  Ouirinal,  was 
removed  from  the  Forum  where  it  had  been  used  as 
a  drinking-trough  for  cattle,  but  it  was  not  till  the 
last  century  that  it  was  placed  in  its  present  site.  It 
was  this  Pope,  also,  who  in  1538  transferred  the 
equestrian  statue  of  Marcus  Aurelius  from  near  the 
Lateran  to  its  actual  position  in  the  Piazza  del  Cam- 
pidoglio.  The  erection  of  the  statue  and  of  the 
steps  leading  up  to  the  Palazzo  del  Senatore  was 
carried  out  under  the  superintendence  of  Michael 
Angelo.  Paul  cannot,  however,  be  wholly  praised  by 
archaeologists,  for  he  laid  out  the  Farnese  gardens  on 
the  Palatine,  which  caused  the  destruction  of  much 
that  was  old.  By  way  of  compensation,  the  excava- 
tions at  the  baths  of  Caracalla  in  i  543  produced  the 
P"arnese  bull,  tlie  Hercules,  the  P^lora,  the  Venus 
Kalipygos,  and  other  statues  and  sculptures.  The 
greatest  street  improvement  which  Paul  executed 
was  the  construction  of  the  Via  Paola,  which  still 
perpetuates  his  name.  But  his  activit}'  was  not  con- 
fined to  excavations  and  street  architecture.  He 
appointed  ^Michael  Angelo  "  chief  architect,  sculptor, 
and  painter  of  the  Vatican,"  with  a  salary  of  two 
hundred  scudi.  The  first  great  result  of  this  appoint- 
ment was  the  "  Last  Judgment "  in  the  Sistine 
Chapel,  which  was  completed  at  Christmas,  1541; 
there  followed  the  two  frescoes  which  represent  the 
Crucifixion  of  St.  Peter  and  the  Conversion  of  St. 
Paul,  and  which  adorn  the  Pauline  Chapel,  built  for 
this  Pope  by  Antonio  di  Sangallo  the  Younger.  Both 
the  latter  architect  and  Michael  Angelo,  as  well  as 
Giacomo  della  Porta,  were  employed  on  the  designs 


F.gL'KSTRIAX    STATLH    Ol-     MARCUS    AL'KLl.lLS. 


3IO  THE    INQUISITIOX  AND    THE   JESUITS 

f(ir  tlie  Farnese  palace,  which  was  constructed  out  of 
ancient  materials,  while  the  i;ranite  basins  of  the 
fountains  in  front  of  it  came  from  the  baths  of  Cara- 
calla.  Nor  was  mere  ornamental  work  the  Pope's 
sole  object.  Moved  by  the  lessons  of  the  siege  of 
1527,  he  was  determined  to  fortify  the  city  so  that  it 
might  be  able  to  resist  further  attacks,  and  a  big 
scheme  of  defences  was  accordingly  planned.  The 
Pope  did  not  live  to  accomplish  it  all  ;  but,  in  spite 
of  the  quarrels  of  his  architects,  a  portion  of  the 
projected  fortifications  was  finished  during  his  reign. 
The  work  at  St.  Peter's  was  continued  ;  the  Sala 
Regia  of  the  Vatican  was  built ;  and  two  summer 
residences  were  constructed  for  the  Hoi}'  P'ather,  one 
on  the  Ouirinal,  the  other  on  the  Capitol.  The 
monuments  of  the  first  two  Medici  Popes  were  also 
completed  in  Sta.  Maria  sopra  Minerva,  and  the 
Villa  Medici,  as  it  was  much  latt;r  called,  was  erected 
for  Cardinal  Ricci  on  the  Pincio.  Thus,  Paul  I  IP's 
reign  has  left  its  mark  on  the  cit)-,  which  rose  once 
more  from  the  terrible  havoc  wrought  after  the  siege. 
It  is  this  ph(Enix-like  gift  of  rising  from  its  ashes 
which  justl}'  entitles  Rome  to  the  proud  attribute  of 
eternit}'. 

Politicall}',  I'aul  endeavoured  to  steer  the  vessel  of 
the  Church  between  the  Sc}'lla  of  I'rance  and  the 
Charybdis  of  the  Emperor,  and  even  journe}-ed  to 
Nice  to  meet  the  rival  monarchs,  passing  on  that 
occasion  beneath  the  Roman  arch  near  Ventimiglia 
which  still  bears  his  name  upon  it.  It  was  he  who 
effected  the  armistice  at  Nice ;  but,  when  the  two 
sovereigns  took-  U[)  arms  again,  and  P^-ancois  I.  scan- 


IGMATIUS    LOYOr.A  3II 

dalised  Europe  by  making  an  alliance  with  the 
Sultan  Suleiman  the  Magnificent,  Rome  once  more 
trembled  at  the  thought  of  a  Turkish  invasion,  for 
the  allied  Franco-Turkish  fleet  appeared  off  Civita 
Vecchia.  Neutral  as  he  remained  in  the  great  duel 
of  his  time,  Paul,  like  most  of  his  predecessors,  was 
beguiled  by  nepotism  into  intervention  in  Italian 
politics.  Perugia  rose  against  him,  on  account  of  the 
high  price  of  salt,  and  he  felt  compelled  to  erect  the 
citadel  there  with  the  ofTensi\'e  inscription  :  ad  coer- 
cendmn  Pcnisinorui/i  audaciani,  which  has  disap- 
peared together  with  the  citadel.  He  quarrelled  with 
Florence  ;  he  made  war  on  the  Colonna  ;  he  even 
attempted  to  convert  the  Republic  of  San  Marino 
into  a  principality  for  one  of  his  sons.  But  more 
important  than  these  schemes  for  the  aggrandisement 
of  the  Farnesi  was  his  attitude  to  the  ecclesiastical 
movement  of  the  era.  Despite,  or  perhaps  because 
of,  his  training  in  the  school  of  the  Borgia,  Paul  was 
convinced  of  the  need  for  some  reform  of  the 
Church  ;  his  Cardinals,  among  them  Reginald  Pole, 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  were  mostl}^ 
men  of  real  distinction.  But  the  long-hoped-for 
Council  was  postponed,  until  at  last  it  met  at  Trent 
in  1545.  But  some  years  before  that  date  Paul  had 
taken  a  step  which  was  destined  to  be  of  the  utmost 
gravity  for  the  future  of  the  Roman  Church  and  of 
the  Papacy  itself.  In  1523  Ignatius  Lo}'ola  had 
arrived  for  the  first  time  in  Rome  on  the  wa}-  to 
Jerusalem,  after  dedicating  himself  to  the  Virgin  in 
the  picturesque  sanctuary  of  Montserrat.  Fifteen 
years  later  he  returned  with   the  matured   plan  for 


312  THB.    IMQVISITION   AND    THE   JESUITS 

the  famous  socieU^  of  which  he  was  destined  to  be 
the  founder.  In  1539  Paul,  after  considerable  hesita- 
tion, gave  his  verbal  approval  of  the  rules  of  the  pro- 
posed Order  of  Jesuits,  and  a  year  afterwards  issued 
his  formal  confirmation  of  them.  We  need  not  here 
enter  into  the  merits  and  demerits  of  that  societ)', 
which  is  even  to-day  enormously  powerful  at  the 
Vatican.  But  it  may  be  interesting  to  mention  the 
external  traces  which  Rome  still  bears  of  this  momen- 
tous institution.  Foremost  among  them  is  the  Gesu, 
built  b}'  order  of  another  Farnese  in  the  second  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  on  the  spot  where  Lo}^ola 
began  his  work,  and  containing  his  remains,  the  altar 
dedicated  to  St. -Francois  Xaxier,  and  the  grave  of 
Cardinal  Bellarmin.  Hard  by  in  the  convent  maj' 
still  be  seen  the  rooms  in  which  Ignatius  lived  and 
died.  The  Collegio  Romano,  a  perfect  nursery  of  the 
later  Papac)-,  was  founded  under  Julius  Ill.b}'  one  of 
the  Borgia  family,  the  saintl}'  Duke  of  Gandia,  who 
became  General  of  the  Jesuits  and  did  much  to 
atone  by  his  life  for  the  crimes  of  his  race.  It  became 
the  means  of  diffusing  the  Jesuits'  methods  of 
education  and  their  code  of  morals,  and  no  man  was 
better  qualified  to  direct  them  than  the  pious  Borgia 
who  had  also  founded  the  first  Jesuit  school  at  Gandia. 
Another  religious  teacher,  San  Filippo  Neri,  also 
came  to  Rome  under  Paul  III.,  and  there  founded  a 
little  later  the  Congregation  of  Oratorians,  for  which 
was  erected  the  Chiesa  Nuova,  where  lie  the  remains 
of  the  founder.  A  religious  institution  of  a  very 
different  character  was  the  Inquisition,  which  was 
established    in  Rome  during  this  pontificate,  and  at 


THE   GESU, 


314  THE    INQUISITIOX   AND    THF.    JESUITS 

a  single  blow  completely  changed  the  conditions  of 
thought  in  Ital}-.  We  have  seen  what  licence  pre- 
vailed in  the  days  of  Leo  X.,  and  how  the  scholars  of 
the  Renaissance  were  allowed  to  scoff  at  religious 
beliefs  by  the  careless  Gallios  of  that  epoch.  But 
the  tinnes  became  very  different  when  the  Inc|uisi- 
tion  had  once  been  introduced.  Even  the  most 
conspicuous  personages  of  the  city  were  suspected 
of  holding  heretical,  or  at  least  unorthodox  views, 
and  ladies  of  rank  were  not  exempt  from  the  machina- 
tions of  this  omniscient  tribunal,  which  was  abolished 
by  the  short-lived  Roman  Republic  of  1849  but  soon 
revived. 

The  last  3'ears  of  Paul  were  occupied  with  family 
troubles  and  the  religious  war,  which  had  taken  its 
name  from  the  Protestant  league  of  Schmalkalden, 
and  in  which  he  aided  the  Catholic  part)'  with  men 
and  mone}'.  But  the  clumsy  diplomacy  of  Rome  at 
this  juncture  and  the  evil  repute  of  the  papal  troops 
annoyed  Charles  V.,  whose  relations  with  the  Pope 
became  strained  in  consequence.  Xo  steps  were 
taken  by  the  Emperor's  officials  to  apprise  I^aul's 
favourite  son,  whom  his  father  had  made  Duke  of 
Parma  and  Piacenza,  of  a  conspirac}-  which  cost  him 
his  life  ;  in  fact,  so  far  from  expressing  regret,  the 
Imperial  officers  occupied  Piacenza  in  the  confusion 
which  ensued.  h\irther  treacher}-  in  the  bosom  of 
his  famil)'  broke  the  old  Pope's  heart,  and  he  died  in 
his  villa  on  the  Ouirinal  in  1549.  His  figure,  in  the 
act  of  pronouncing  the  benediction,  may  be  seen  on 
his  monument  in  St.  Peter's,  and  his  face  has  been 
immortalised    b)-    Titian,    whose    activity    in    Rome 


JULIUS  III.  31  5 

(luring  his  reign  was,  however,  hindered  b}-  the 
jealousy  of  other  artists.  The  chief  events  of  his 
pontificate  were  depicted  by  Vasari  in  the  Cancel- 
leria,  but  his  best  achievement,  the  profound  peace 
which  he  gave  to  Rome,  could  not  be  represented  in 
a  fresco.  The  wounds,  which  the  cit}-  had  received 
in  the  stormy  times  of  his  predecessor,  began  to 
heal  ;  the  population  increased,  the  wealth  of  tlic 
citizens  increased  also.  The  people  had  what  it 
wanted — "  bread  and  shows  " — and  blessed  the  Pope 
for  those  twin  mercies.  The  wedding  of  Ottavio 
Farnese  with  Margaret  of  x-Xustria,  who  resided  in 
and  gave  her  name  to  the  Palazzo  Madama,  now  the 
Senate-house,  was  even  more  splendid  than  the  entr}' 
of  Charles  V. ;  the  illuminations  were  magnificent, 
and  races  of  horses  and  buffaloes  were  held  from 
Sta.  Maria  in  Trastevere  to  the  Vatican.  The  car- 
nivals in  this  reign  were  most  costly,  but  Rabelais, 
who  was  in  Rome  at  this  period,  considered  that  it 
was  better  to  observe  the  papal  court  at  a  distance,  if 
one  wished  to  keep  one's  illusions.  ;\s  the  modern 
Italians  put  it:    ''Roma  I'cdnta,  fcde  pcrdntar 

A  long  Conclave  followed  the  death  of  l^aul  III., 
and  at  one  moment  it  seemed  as  if  England  would 
for  the  second  time  provide  a  Pope,  in  the  j^erson  of 
Cardinal  Pole.  But  the  Imperial  part)-  carried  the 
da)',  and  Del  Monte  was  elected  and  took  the  name 
of  Julius  III.  in  1550,  the  year  of  the  tenth  Jubilee. 
His  short  pontificate  was  of  importance  for  English 
histor)',  for  it  was  he  who  sent  Cardinal  Pole  as  papal 
legate  to  England  on  Mary's  accession.  He  also  gave 
his    support    to    the    Jesuits    in     Rome,    confirmed 


3l6  THE    IXQIJISITIOX   AM)    TUli  JESUITS 

Loyola's  foundation  of  the  German- Hungarian 
college,  and  endeavoured  to  moderate  the  terrors  of 
the  Inquisition.  In  Rome  he  is  chiefly  remembered 
for  the  Villa  di  Papa  Giulio  and  the  Church  of  Sant' 
Andrea  on  the  Flaminian  \Va}',  the  works  of  Vignola 
and  Vasari.  The  chief  discovery  of  his  reign  was 
that  of  the  statue  of  Pompey,  which  he  purchased  and 
which  now  stands  in  the  Palazzo  Spada.  Under  him, 
too,  the  Villa  d'  Estc  at  Tivoli  was  begun,  and  visitors 
to  Perugia  will  remember  his  statue  there.  Of  his 
successor,  Marcellus  II.,  who  died  twent\--two  da}'s 
after  his  election,  there  is  only  one  thing  to  be 
said,  that  he  seemed  better  qualified  than  any  other 
mail  of  his  time  to  reform  the  Church,  and  that  the  joy 
with  which  his  appointment  was  greeted,  was  only 
equalled  by-  the  sorrow  at  his  death. 

The  choice  of  the  Cardinals  then  fell  on  a  man 
whom  no  one,  least  of  all  himself,  regarded  as  a  possi- 
ble Pope.  Cardinal  Carafa,  who  took  the  title  of  Paul 
IV.,  belonged  to  a  Neapolitan  family  ;  he  was  "  a  man 
of  choleric  temperament  and  a  born  ruler  ;  all  nerves, 
and  a  good  linguist ;  a  fine  speaker,  endowed  with 
an  excellent  memory  ;  a  pure-minded,  and  zealous 
ecclesiastic,  with  a  high  conception  of  his  mission  and 
a  low  opinion  of  kings  and  princes."  Such  was  a 
Venetian  statesman's  description  of  the  new  Pope, 
and  it  proved,  as  Venetian  descriptions  usually  did, 
to  be  accurate.  Almost  immediately  after  his 
accession  the  religious  peace  of  Augsburg  closed 
the  first  period  of  the  Reformation,  and  that  peace 
was  followed  by  the  abdication  of  the  Emperor  Charles 
V.     Both  events  had  great  effect  on  the  fortunes  of 


ALVA    BEFORE    ROME  317 

Rome,  for  the  former  excluded  papal  interference 
from  a  large  part  of  Germany,  the  latter  removed  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  Catholic  world  in  political 
matters  to  Spain,  where  the  bigoted  Philip  II.  now 
sat  on  the  throne.  Paul,  as  a  true  Italian  patriot, 
detested  Spanish  influence,  the  evils  of  which  he  had 
learnt  in  his  Neapolitan  home.  "  It  were  well,"  he 
once  said,  "that  P'rench  and  Spaniards,  barbarians 
both,  should  stay  in  their  own  countries  and  that  no 
language  but  ours  were  spoken  in  Italy."  But  he 
could  not  appeal  to  Italians  to  attack  both  these 
"  barbarians  "  at  the  same  time  with  any  hope  of 
success,  nor  was  it  even  possible  to  drive  out  the 
Spaniards  from  Naples  without  an  ally.  So  Paul, 
little  as  he  liked  it,  found  it  desirable  to  make  an 
alliance  with  France.  Meanwhile  the  hostilities  with 
the  Duke  of  Alva,  then  Spanish  Viceroy  in  Naples, 
had  begun.  The  first  step  was  an  onslaught  by  the 
papal  party  on  the  Colonna  who  were  on  the  Spanish 
side  ;  the  ladies  of  the  family  were  arrested  in  their 
palace  in  Rome,  but  escaped  in  male  attire  over  the 
Neapolitan  frontier.  Paul  bestowed  the  lands  and 
titles  of  his  enemies  on  his  own  relatives,  and  arrested 
the  Imperial  postmaster  and  agent.  Alva  replied 
by  marching  against  Rome.  Great  was  the  alarm, 
for  the  terrible  sack  of  1527  seemed  likely  to  be 
repeated,  and  the  defensive  measures  of  the  Pope 
only  increased  the  alarm  of  the  people.  At  the 
Porta  del  Popolo  numerous  houses  and  the 
Augustine  Monastery,  where  Luther  had  once 
resided,  were  torn  clown,  and  many  persons  fled  from 
the  cit\-.     But  the    resolute   Pontiff  issued   an   edict. 


3l8  THE    INQUISITION   AND    THE  JESUITS 

ordering  all  inmates  of  convents  to  lend  a  hand  at 
the  works  of  defence  and  forbidding  emigration, 
while  Gascon  troops  were  rapidly  drafted  into  Rome. 
The  soul  of  the  garrison  was  Cardinal  Carafa,  the 
Pope's  nephew,  who  hated  the  Spaniards  with  an 
undying  hatred,  and  who  was  far  more  fitted  to 
command  soldiers  than  to  sit  in  the  Sacred  College. 
The  Duke  of  Guise,  who  was  sent  by  the  King  of 
France  to  aid  the  Pope,  was  of  far  less  use,  and 
when,  in  1557,  xAlva  himself  arrived  before  Rome,  it 
seemed  certain  that  the  city  would  meet  the  fate 
which  had  befallen  it  thirty  years  before. 

Alva's  plan  was  to  seize  the  Porta  Maggiore  by 
means  of  a  night  attack,  and  thence  conduct  his 
operations  against  the  rest  of  the  city.  He  chose  a 
pitch-dark  night,  and  then  set  out  towards  the  gate. 
But  as  he  drew  near,  he  saw  the  whole  city  ablaze 
with  light,  and  knew  that  his  plan  had  been 
discovered.  For  a  moment  he  resolved  to  attack 
another  part  of  the  walls  ;  but,  perhaps  from  a  desire 
to  spare  Rome  the  awful  fate  of  a  second  sack,  he 
withdrew  instead  to  a  distance,  and  attended  further 
events.  He  had  not  long  to  wait.  Within  the  walls, 
the  Pope  and  his  nephew  could  not  control  the 
mercenaries,  whom  they  had  levied,  some  of  them 
out-and-out  laitherans,  caring  nothing  for  the  mass 
and  only  willitig  to  serve  the  Pope  as  long  as  he 
could  pay.  Money,  munitions,  and  food  had  become 
scarce  ;  the  defeat  of  the  French  by  the  Spaniards  at 
St.-Ouentin  deprived  Rome  of  an\'  further  hope  of 
aid  from  that  quarter,  and  Guise  was  recalled  by  his 
sovereign.     Paul   bitterly    said  of  him:  "The    Duke 


PAUL   IV.    AND   ANGLICAN   ORDERS  319 

has  done  little  for  his  kini^",  less  for  the  Church, 
nothing  for  his  honour."  At  Cave,  near  Palestrina, 
peace  was  made  ;  both  parties  promised  to  forget  and 
forgive,  and  Alva,  attended  by  a  small  retinue,  was 
received  at  the  Vatican,  where  he  did  obeisance  to 
the  Pope.  Spain  had  gained  all  along  the  line  ;  the 
peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis  in  1559,  which  drove  the 
French  out  of  Italy,  left  her  the  predominant  power 
there. 

Paul's  passionate  nature  now  found  vent  in  an 
almost  unheard-of  act  in  the  annals  of  the  Papacy- — • 
the  disgrace  of  his  own  relatives.  The  remark  of  a 
Cardinal,  that  the  reform  of  the  Church  ought  to  begin 
at  home,  had  stung  him  to  the  quick  ;  he  resolved  to 
make  a  clean  sweep  of  the  abuses  which  he  found 
existent  around  him.  His  three  nephews  were 
accordingly  deprived  of  their  dignities,  and  banished, 
in  spite  of  their  mother's  prayers.  At  the  same  time, 
the  complaints  of  the  taxpayers  were  heard,  and 
some  of  the  heaviest  taxes  removed.  But  the  Pope's 
want  of  tact  and  headstrong  nature  caused  him  to 
adopt  dangerous  extremes  in  religious  questions. 
Although  he  had  been  at  one  time  Nuncio  in  London 
and  knew  something  of  English  affairs,  his  attitude 
towards  Queen  Elizabeth  alienated  her  and  cut  off 
the  last  chance  of  a  reconciliation  between  Rome 
and  England.  He  declined  to  recognise  the  validity 
of  Anglican  orders,  and  so  furnished  a  precedent 
which  Leo  XHI.  did  not  forget  to  quote  during  the 
controversy  on  that  cjuestion  in  1896.  He  attended  the 
weekly  sittings  of  the  Inquisition,  thus  increasing  the 
influence  of  that  bod\-,  which  extended  its  censorship 


320  THE   INQUISITION  AND    THE   JESUITS 

over  literature  to  an  alarming  degree.  It  had  long 
been  a  rule  of  the  Vatican  that  a  license  was  required 
for  the  publication  of  a  book.  But  in  1559  Paul 
went  }-et  further  and  allowed  the  issue  of  the  first 
Index  Expiirgatorius.  All  bibles  in  modern  languages 
were  placed  on  this  list,  and  everything  that  pro- 
ceeded from  the  presses  of  sixty-one  heretical  printers 
was  put  under  the  ban  of  the  Church.  The  result  was 
the  withdrawal  of  many  great  printing  firms  from 
Italy  to  Switzerland  and  Germany.  Indirectly,  this 
severe  censorship  tended  to  keep  up  the  practice  of 
writing  in  Latin,  for  a  work  composed  in  a  language 
which  was  unknown  to  the  vulgar  was  considered  less 
dangerous  b)-  the  censors  than  one  written  in  the 
vernacular.  He  was  anxious  to  purify  the  Church 
of  abuses,  and  effected  much,  alike  by  practice  and 
precept — for  he  was  a  man  of  unspotted  life — so  that, 
in  the  words  of  the  Venetian  Ambassador,  "  Rome 
seemed  like  a  cloister;  and,  if  sins  were  committed, 
the  sinners  preserved  an  outward  decorum,  which 
even  bishops  and  Cardinals  had  disregarded  in  former 
times."  But  his  stern  methods  made  him  unpopular 
with  all  classes,  above  all  with  the  Jews,  who  had 
good  reason  to  remember  his  pontificate.  Until  the 
middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Roman  Jews  had 
enjoyed  more  liberty  than  their  co-religionists  in 
most  Christian  lands,  in  spite  of  the  insults  to  which 
they  were  occasionally  subjected.  But  the  lower 
classes,  when  the)-  had  become  heavily  indebted  to 
the  Hebrew  moneylenders,  clamoured  for  protection, 
and  a  state  pawn-office,  or  Monte  di  Pieta  was 
accordinu'K'    fijunded.      The    Goxernment     did     not 


MEASURES   AGAINST    THE   JEWS  321 

however,  confine  itself  to  measures  against  excessive 
usury.  Julius  III.  also  forbade  the  reading  of  the 
Talmud,  and  Paul  IV.  prohibited  the  Jews  from 
residing  in  any  town  of  the  Papal  States,  except 
Rome  and  Ancona.  Even  there  they  were  obliged 
to  live  in  a  separate  quarter  and  to  content  them- 
selves with  a  single  synagogue.  They  were  no  longer 
allowed  to  keep  Christian  servants,  to  work  on 
Sunda}-s  and  feast-days,  or  to  play  with  Christians. 
All  previous  commercial  privileges  of  their  race  were 
abolished,  their  tribute  was  raised,  the  legal  rate  of 
interest  was  lowered,  the  accjuisition  of  landed 
property  by  a  Jew  was  forbidden.  Even  Jewish 
doctors — some  of  whom  had  been  summoned  to 
attend  on  Popes  in  days  gone  by- — were  disbarred 
from  practising  among  Christians,  and  all  Jews  were 
compelled  to  wear  a  distinctive  badge,  the  men  a 
yellow  hat,  the  women  a  yellow  veil.  No  Hebrew 
might  address  a  Christian  without  the  use  of  the  word 
Signorc  ;  in  short,  everything  was  done  to  mark  oft 
the  Jews  as  an  inferior  race.  Erom  this  edict  dates 
the  establishment  of  the  Ghetto,  the  walls  and  towers 
of  which  were  demolished  in  1848,  and  which  finallx' 
disappeared  in   1887. 

So  long  as  Paul  was  in  full  possession  of  his 
faculties  he  allowed  the  Romans  to  hate  him, 
provided  that  they  feared  him.  But  when,  in  1559, 
he  fell  ill,  the  citizens  rose  in  an  instant ;  the  prisons 
disgorged  their  inmates;  the  buildings  of  the 
Inquisition  were  stormed,  all  the  documents  were 
thrown  out  of  the  windows,  and  part  of  the  palace 
was  destroyed   by  fire.     As  soon  as  the  news  of  his 


322  THE   IXQUISITIOX   AXU    THE  JESUITS 

death  was  made  known,  further  batches  of  {)risoners 
were  set  free  by  the  mob  ;  the  statue  of  the  Pope, 
which  had  recently  been  erected  on  the  Capitol,  was 
torn  from  its  pedestal,  and  a  Jew,  amidst  the  laughter 
of  the  crowd,  placed  his  )-ellow  cap  upon  the  head, 
which,  after  serving  as  a  target  all  day,  was  at  last 
pitched  into  the  river.  Every  inscription  or  coat-of- 
arms  of  the  Carafa  family  was  smashed  and 
obliterated.  .Such  was  the  hatred  which  their  name 
inspired,  that  the  hawkers  of  the  flagons  known  as 
caraffc,  were  obliged  to  change  the  name  of  their 
wares  to  ampoUc.  All  law  and  order  ceased  ; 
murders  were  committed  for  a  few  sciidi,  and  no 
decent  person  durst  walk  abroad  at  night.  From 
fear  of  the  people,  J^aul's  friends  buried  his  body  as 
deej-)  as  possible  under  .St.  I'eter's,  where  it  remained 
till  it  was  removed  later  on  to  the  Carafa  chapel  in 
Sta.   Maria   sopra   Minerva. 

Paul  IV.  found  little  time,  and  had  small 
inclination,  for  artistic  matters.  He  once  remarked 
that  it  was  "  more  necessary  to  fortify  Rome  than  to 
adorn  it,'"  and  with  this  object  he  built  the  great  gate 
of  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo.  But  those,  who  wish 
to  see  some  memorial  of  this  austere  man,  before 
whom  even  the  terrible  Aha  is  said  to  have  trembled, 
should  \'isit  his  tomb.  There  he  is  portra\-ed  as  he 
was  in  life — the  embodiment  of  justice  without  the 
saving  "  qualit)'  (jf  mere}." 

Mis  successor,  Pius  I\'.,  the  third  Pope  whom  the 
Medici  had  produced,  was  his  exact  opposite.  Mild 
and  aflable,  more  of  a  man  of  letters  than  a  theo- 
logian,   he    possessed  a   pleasant    personaIit\-,  which 


TRIAL    OF    THE    CARAFA    FAMILY  323 

seemed  to  some  too  frivolous  for  his  station.  But  he 
soon  showed  that  he,  too,  could  be  stern  on  occasion, 
and  the  occasion  was  the  memorable  trial  of  the 
Carafa  family,  with  which  he  inaugurated  his  reign. 
No  sooner  had  he  ascended  the  throne  than  the 
enemies  of  that  unpopular  clan  demanded  its  pro- 
scription. One  of  the  late  Pope's  nephews  had  killed 
his  wife's  lover  with  his  own  hand,  and  her  biother 
completed  her  punishment  by  strangling  her.  The 
husband,  not  even  yet  content  with  his  vengeance, 
accused  another  of  her  paramours,  one  of  the 
Colonna  family,  of  attempting  to  poison  him.  The 
whole  Colonna  family,  which  had  old  scores  to  pay 
off,  espoused  the  accused's  cause,  and  the  Pope, whose 
election  had  been  largely  due  to  Cardinal  Carafa's 
aid,  consented  nevertheless  to  the  arrest  of  the 
Cardinal  and  other  members  of  the  hated  race. 
Eight  Cardinals  were  entrusted  with  their  trial  ;  no 
pains  were  spared  to  pile  up  accusations  against 
them  ;  even  forgery  was  employed,  in  order  to  bring 
forward  evidence  of  their  crimes,  one  of  which  was 
the  authorship  of  the  Spanish  war.  Yet  the  King  of 
Spain  pleaded  for  them  ;  but  even  his  prayers  were 
unavailing.  Sentence  of  death  was  pronounced,  and 
executed  in  March,  1561,  under  circumstances  of 
peculiar  barbarity.  The  guides  still  show  the  room 
in  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo  where  the  Cardinal  was 
strangled  with  a  silken  cord.  A  light,  placed  on  the 
tower,  apprised  the  Pope  of  his  death.  The  Duke  of 
Paliano  and  two  others  were  beheaded  in  the  prison 
of  Tor  di  Nona,  which,  though  since  destroyed,  has 
bequeathed  its  name  to  the  Via  Tordinona.     Their 


324  THE    IXQUISITION  AND    THE  JESUITS 

bodies,  after  having  been  exhibited  on  the  bridge  of 
Sant'  Angelo,  were  buried  in  Sta.  Maria  sopra 
Minerva.  The  young  Cardinal  Alfonso  Carafa 
escaped  with  a  huge  fine,  which  he  was  unable  to 
pay.  But  when  Pius  V.  ascended  the  throne,  the 
judgment  was  reversed,  and  the  survivors  received 
back  their  confiscated  property,  while  the  prosecuting 
counsel  was  in  his  turn  beheaded.  Nothing,  how- 
ever, consoled  Alfonso  for  what  he  and  his  family 
had  undergone,  and  he  died  at  an  early  age  of  a 
bnjken  heart. 

The  nephews  of  the  late  Pope  had  fallen  ;  those  of 
the  new  one  rose  in  their  place.  The  most  celebrated 
of  them  was  Cardinal  Carlo  Borromeo,  whose  statue 
catches  the  traveller's  eye  as  he  arrives  at  Arona  on 
Lago  Maggiore,  and  who  is  commemorated  at  Rome 
by  a  chapel  in  Sta.  Prassede.  But  times  had 
changed  since  the  nephews  of  Popes  had  scandalised 
the  religious  by  their  worldliness  and  reckless  ex- 
travagance. Borromeo  was  a  man  of  pure  life,  and 
he  lived  in  an  age  when  the  reforming  influence 
which  found  expression  in  the  Council  of  Trent  had 
made  itself  felt  even  in  Rome.  Bishops  were  now 
ccjmpelled  to  reside  in  their  sees  ;  they  were  there- 
fore no  longer  able  to  live  and  spend  their  incomes 
at  the  papal  court.  There  was  less  place-hunting, 
because  pluralists  were  regarded  with  disfavour.  The 
secession  of  England  and  other  Protestant  countries 
had  cut  off  large  sources  of  ecclesiastical  revenues,  so 
that  the  expenses  of  the  Papacy  had  to  be  cut  down, 
and  an  excellent  example  of  economy  was  set  by 
Borromeo  himself     .\n  eye-witness  of  the  daily  life 


PURITY   OF    THE    PAPAL    COURT  325 

in  Rome  at  this  time  remarked  that  one  never  saw 
Cardinals  going  about  with  ladies,  and  that  banquets 
and  hunting-parties  had  ceased.  The  Roman  trades- 
men, he  added,  were  "all  bankrupt,"  and  all  business 
and  the  best  posts  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Milanese, 
for  Puis  IV.  came  from  Milan.  Still,  there  were 
magnificent  Cardinals,  like  Ippolito  d'Este,  builder 
of  the  famous  villa  at  Tivoli,  and  his  nephew  Luigi, 
the  patron  of  Tasso  ;  above  all  rises  the  figure  of 
Alessandro  Farnese,  a  princely  personage,  whose 
residences  in  and  out  of  Rome  were  the  wonder  of 
all  who  visited  them.  Yet  even  he,  man  of  the  world 
as  he  was,  became  one  of  the  most  zealous  supporters 
of  the  Jesuits  whose  power  went  on  increasing.  The 
Index  was  published  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  the 
Council  of  Trent  and  the  censorship  of  books  became 
stricter  and  stricter.  Yet  Pius  W.  did  much  for 
learning.  He  founded  the  Seminario  Romano, 
enriched  the  \^atican  library  with  a  number  of 
manuscripts,  summoned  to  Rome  the  noted  printer, 
Paolo  Manuzio,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  out  an 
edition  of  the  Fathers,  assigned  him  a  residence,  and 
let  him  set  up  his  press  on  the  Capitol.  He  also 
conceived  the  plan  of  collecting  from  all  sources  all 
documents  relating  to  the  Papacy,  in  acccjrdance  with 
which  his  successor  ordered  the  transference  of  most  of 
the  papal  archixes  at  Avignon  to  Rome.  He  carried 
out  the  decisions  of  the  Council  in  respect  of  Church 
music,  and  entrusted  Pierluigi,  of  Palestrina,  choir- 
master at  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  with  the  composition 
of  a  simple  mass,  which  was  dedicated  to  Pope 
Marcellus  II.    Meanwhile,  building  was  not  neglected. 


326         TIN-:  /.vons/T/ox  and  the  jf. suits 

There  was  more  work  at  the  fortifications  ;  two  L^ates 
were  be^un,  the  Porta  Pia  and  the  Porta  Angelica, 
the  latter  destroyed  in  1888,  the  former  designed  by 
the  aged  Michael  Angelo,  but  not  completed  till  the 
time  of  Pius  IX.,  and  the  outside  of  the  Porta  del 
Popolo  was  constructed  b}'  Vignola  at  the  Pope's 
orders.  P^or  Pius  IV.  also  Michael  Angelo  converted 
part  of  the  baths  of  Diocletian  into  the  Church  of  Sta. 
Maria  degli  Angeli,  where  the  Pope's  monument  was 
afterwards  placed.  Three  }'ears  after  he  had  finished 
the  church,  the  great  artist  died  in  his  house  in 
Trajan's  Forum.  The  Villa  Pia,  or  Casino  del  Papa, 
which  still  stands  in  the  Vatican  garden,  was  also 
erected  by  this  Pius,  who  spent  a  large  amount  of  his 
time  there  with  his  favourite  nephew.  The  Church 
of  Sta.  Caterina  di  Siena,  part  of  the  buildings  com- 
prised in  the  Palazzo  Mattei,  and  the  foundation  of 
the  fine  Villa  Mondragone  near  Frascati,  now  a  Jesuit 
school  and  recently  the  subject  of  a  heated  political 
discussion  in  the  Italian  Chamber,  all  date  from  this 
pontificate.  It  was  then,  too,  that  the  two  Eg\'ptian 
lions,  now  in  the  Capitol ine  Museum,  were  placed  at 
the  foot  of  the  steps  leading  up  to  the  Capitol,  and  the 
marble  plan  of  ancient  Rome,  also  in  that  Museum, 
was  discovered  behind  the  Church  of  SS.  Cosma  e 
Damiano.  On  the  other  hand,  if  archaeology  gained 
in  one  way  it  lost  in  another,  for  it  was  under 
Pius  I\^.  that  the  arch  of  Claudius  which  had  stood 
on  the  Piazza  Sciarra  was  pulled  down,  and  the  last 
column  of  the  baths  of  Caracalla  was  carried  off 
to  Florence,  where  it  now  adorns  the  Piazza  Santa 
Trinita. 


I'liTs  r.  327 

The  close  of  this  [)ontificate  was  darkened  by  the 
corruption  which  once  more  crept  into  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  and  b)-  the  siege  of  Malta  by  the  Turks 
which  cost  the  Pope  and  his  subjects  large  sums. 
Pius  became  unpopular,  and  in  1565  a  plot  to  murder 
him  during  a  procession  only  failed  because  the  con- 
spirators lacked  the  necessarx'  courage.  The  ring- 
leader confessed  under  torture  how  divine  visions  had 
told  him  that  the  Church  wanted  a  new  head,  and 
how  he  had  felt  called  upon  to  obe\'  this  supernatural 
injunction.  In  the  same  }'ear  nature  accomplished  the 
design  of  the  conspirators,  and  earlv  in  i  566  the  most 
zealous  of  all  ecclesiastics,  Cardinal  (ihislieri,  \\ho  had 
been  chief  of  the  Inquisition,  was  elected  Pope,  and 
styled  himself  Pius  \'.  In  him  asceticism,  after  the 
lapse  of  ages,  once  again  ascended  the  papal  throne, 
for  he  wore  a  hair  shirt,  kept  a  modest  table  and  earl)- 
hoars,  and  devoted  his  whole  thoughts  to  what  he 
honestly  believed  to  be  the  good  of  the  Church.  For 
him  ever^'thing  must  be  subordinate  to  religion  ;  of 
his  relatives  he  was  j)erfectl\'  independent,  while  every 
one,  even  the  humblest,  could  obtain  an  audience  of 
him  ;  in  short,  he  was  one  of  the  most  conscientious 
men  who  have  ever  sat  in  the  seat  of  St.  Peter.  But 
he  found  it  hard  to  govern  the  Romans  b\'  the  light 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Like  most  earnest 
reformers  of  public  morals,  he  was  in  advance  of  his 
time,  in  many  respects  of  ours  also,  and  his  experience 
proved  that  the  political  interests  of  the  Papacy  for 
which  he  cared  little  could  not  easily  be  reconciled 
with  the  religious  aspects  of  that  institution. 

In  one  respect  politics  and  religion  were  to  him  the 


32.S         TIU-:  /.\(jins/T/ox  axd  the  jf.suits 

same,  for,  like  Pius  II.,  he  was  a  zealous  advocate  of 
an  anti-Turkish  crusade  to  check  the  advance  of  the 
infidel.  In  the  first  \-ear  of  his  pontificate,  the  Turks 
extinguished  the  Catholic  duch)'  of  Naxos,  "  the  last 
of  the  great  fiefs  of  the  Latin  Empire  of  Romania;" 
a  little  later  they  captured  Cyprus  from  the  Venetians. 
But  the  Pope,  imdaunted  b\-  these  successive  blows, 
not  onl}'  sent  mone}'  to  stem  the  tide  of  Turkish 
invasion  in  Hungar\',  but  was  the  soul  of  the  league 
which  led  to  the  victory  of  Lepanto.  It  must  have 
been  an  inspiring  scene,  when  Marc  Antonio  Colonna, 
the  ablest  officer  among  the  Roman  nobles,  attended 
by  a  band  of  his  fellows,  rode  to  the  Vatican  to 
recei\'e  his  appointment  as  commander-in-chief  of 
the  papal  fleet,  and  a  consecrated  banner  with  the 
time-honoured  device  :  In  hoc  signo  vinccs.  At  the 
famous  battle  the  best  blood  of  Rome  was  spilt  for 
the  Christian  cause.  A  Farnese,  a  Delia  Rovere,  an 
Orsini,  a  Colonna,  and  man)-  more  historic  names 
figured  in  the  list  of  the  combatants,  and  far  more 
than  a  thousand  of  the  papal  auxiliaries  were 
wounded.  Great  was  the  rejoicing  when,  towards 
the  close  of  157 1,  the  victorious  commander  entered 
Rome.  The  civic  authorities  and  the  people  crowded 
the  Appian  W'a}-  to  receive  him  as  he  rode  in  at  the 
Porta  San  Sebastiano  on  a  white  horse  in  the  Spanish 
costume  of  the  time  with  the  Order  of  the  Golden 
Fleece  on  his  breast.  The  Arch  of  Titus  bore  an 
nscription,  prophesj'ing  (vain  hope  !)  the  liberation 
of  Jerusalem  by  a  Roman  Pontiff.  In  St.  Peter's 
Pius  welcomed  his  champion,  in  the  evening  Rome 
was  all  ablaze  with   fireworks,  and  a  ^e.\\  davs  later 


RK./OinXCS    FOR    /./-.PANTO 


329 


the  conqueror  was  entertained  on  the  Capito!,  and  in 
the  adjacent  Church  of  Aracreh'  dedicated  a  silver 
colin/ina  /-ost/'ata,  representing  the  prows  of  the 
conquered  ships,  after  the  fashion  of  the  ancient 
Roman    Admiral,   Duilius.     His  statue   may  still  be 


PORTA   SAX    SEHASTIAXO. 

{Vyom  ,1  pholo.  hv  .V;v.  Miller.) 


seen  in  one  of  the  Sale  dei  Conservatori,  his  exploits 
at  Lepanto  are  commemorated  b)'  a  fresco  in  the 
Sala  Regia  of  the  Vatican,  b}-  the  ceiling  of  Aracreli 
and  on  one  of  those  of  the  Palazzo  Colonna,  and  a 
pine-tree  in  the  garden  of  the  palace  is  said  to  have 


330  77/ A'  /xo('/s/'/-/()X  .!.y/j   Till-    ii-:sriTS 

been  planted  in  honour  of  the  victory.  Pius  founded 
the  festival  of  La  Madonna  della  Vittoria,  and  in 
many  a  Spanish  Cathedral  the  flags  of  Lepanto 
may  still  be  seen.  But,  as  Finlay  has  shown  in  his 
great  history,  the  results  of  the  victory  were  greatly 
exaggerated  ;  the  check  to  the  Turks  was  only 
temporary,  and  even  the  Pope's  inexhaustible  energy 
failed  to  keep  the  Powers  united  against  them.  He 
actually  helped  to  increase  the  disunion  of  the 
French,  for  his  troops  fought  on  the  Catholic  side 
against  the  Huguenots,  and  brought  back  some 
captured  banners  to  adorn  the  Lateran. 

At  home,  too,  he  was  as  severe  with  suspected 
heretics  as  with  avowed  dissenters  in  P'rance,  and  the 
decapitation  of  the  Florentine  Carnesecchi  on  the 
bridge  of  Sant'  Angelo  showed  the  increased  power 
of  the  Inquisition.  "The  Pope,"  said  one  of  the 
Inquisitors  themselves,  "needs  the  bridle  rather  than 
the  spur."  Everywhere  it  was  the  hey-day  of 
religious  persecution,  and  Pius  found  his  readiest 
supporter  in  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  But  his  Bull, 
deposing  our  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  powerless.  It 
is  a  curious  fact,  however,  that  his  last  public  act  was 
to  hear  the  prayers  of  some  English  Catholic  fugitives 
from  their  countr}-.  At  Easter,  1572,  he  became  ill ; 
on  trying  to  climb  the  Santa  Scala  he  fainted,  and 
was  taken  back  to  the  Vatican  to  die.  He  was  buried 
in  the  Sistine  Chapel  of  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore,  where 
a  monument  commemorates  his  career,  and  after  a 
long  interval  he  received  the  honour  of  being 
canonised.  For  nearly  three  centuries  no  Pope  had 
received,  and  perhaps   none  had  deserved,  the  title  of 


THE    LAST   POPR    CANONISED  33 1 

Saint,  and  he  was  the  last  to  obtain  it.  The  reason 
may,  perhaps,  be  found  in  his  own  sa}'ing,  that  "  he 
had  hoped  to  save  his  soul  as  a  monk,  he  had  feared 
that  he  could  scarcely  save  it  as  a  bishop  and  a 
Cardinal,  and  had  despaired  of  saving  it  as  a  Pope." 

His  pontificate  has  left  few  traces  in  Rome  so  far 
as  buildings  are  concerned.  He,  however,  built  the 
Church  of  SS.  Domenico  e  Sisto,  and  gave  to  the 
Inquisition  the  Palazzo  del  Santo  Ufifizio,  then  called 
the  Palazzo  Pucci.  Under  him,  too,  Cardinal 
Alessandro  I-'arnese  began  the  Gesi^i.  But  scholars 
will  remember  his  reign,  for  then  it  was  that  in  a 
vineyard  outside  the  Porta  Portese  were  discovered 
those  memorable  records  of  the  Arval  brotherhood 
which  form  one  of  the  earliest  known  specimens  of 
Latin. ^  Pius  V.  was  not,  however,  a  lover  of 
archeeology,  regarding  ancient  statues  as  so  man\- 
"idols  of  the  heathen."  Accordingl}',  we  find  him 
presenting  cartloads  of  them  to  Florence  and 
plundering  the  baths  of  Titus  which  had  hitherto 
remained  almost  intact.  The  new  Via  Alessandrina, 
too,  so-called  from  a  nephew  of  this  Pope,  cut  right 
through  the  district  round  the  Fora  of  the  Fmperors; 
but  Pius  was  usuall}'  too  much  occupied  with  trying 
to  reform  the  morals  of  Rome  to  ha\e  much  energ}- 
left  for  great  constructive  or  destructive  works,  for  in 
Rome  the  two  terms  are  often  .synonymous. 

The  pontificate  of  the  next  Pope,  Gregor}-  XHI., 
which  extended  to  1585,  was  remarkable  for  four 
things — the  revision  and  correction  of  the  Roman 
statutes,    a      large    number     of    new     ecclesiastical 

'  Cf.  Mommsen's  History  of  Rome,  i.  230-1. 


332  THE    INQUISITION   AND    THE   JESUITS 

foundations,  the  attempt  to  cope  with  the  evils  of 
brigandage,  and  the  reform  of  the  calendar.  Gregory 
was  an  earnest  man  who  had  sown  a  good  man\'  wild 
oats  in  his  youth  and  had  a  grown-up  son  to  provide 
for  when  he  was  elected.  He  established  the  college 
for  English  missionaries,  enlarged  the  German- 
Hungarian  college  of  Julius  HI.,  and  erected  the 
present  buildings  of  the  Collegio  Romano,  which  had 
been  founded,  as  we  saw,  by  San  Francisco  Borgia, 
Duke  of  Gandia.  He  took  decisive  steps  to  free 
Rome  from  the  plague  of  beggars  who  infested  the 
streets  and  churches  by  the  construction  of  a  work- 
house, and  was  so  successful  that  we  are  told  that 
"in  1 581  not  a  single  beggar  was  to  be  seen  in 
Rome  " — an  achievement  even  greater  than  those  of 
the  modern  societa  contra  /'  accattouagio.  From  his 
coffers  the  C'N'priots,  who  had  suffered  from  the 
Turkish  conquest,  were  relieved,  and  granaries  for 
the  use  of  the  Romans  were  designed  at  his  expense 
near  the  baths  of  Diocletian.  Finally,  during  the 
eleventh  }'ear  of  Jubilee,  1575,  when  Tasso  was  in 
Rome,  and  was  presented  to  the  Pope,  to  whom  he 
alludes  in  his  great  epic,'  no  less  than  200,000 
pilgrims  were  boarded  and  lodged  in  the  hospital 
adjoining  the  later  Church  of  the  Trinita  del 
Pellegrini,  in  accordance  with  the  plan  of  San  Filippo 
Neri.  But  the  enormous  sums  which  Gregory  spent 
on  these  and  similar  philanthropic  objects  had  to  be 
found    somewhere,   and   here    the    Pope's    difficulties 

'  "  Ovc  nra  il  novo  successor  tuo  degno 
I)i  grazia  c  di  pcrdono  apre  le  porte.'" 

La  Geriisa/ei/iiiie  Liherata,  xi.  b. 


BRIGAXDAGE  ■  333 

began.  He  raised  funds  b\'  cancelling  a  number  of 
feudal  privileges,  which  had  original!}-  been  granted 
for  a  definite  period  but  in  some  cases  had  been 
allowed  to  continue  by  the  carelessness  of  his 
predecessors,  and  b}-  resuming  possession  of  various 
territories,  the  feudal  dues  from  which  had  fallen 
into  arrears.  Naturally  these  impolitic,  if  strictly 
legal,  measures  —  the  acts  of  a  la\v}-er  rather  than  a 
statesman — produced  gra\-e  dissatisfaction.  Vested 
interests  were  injured,  and  at  once  began  to  assert 
themsel\-es.  The  circumstances  of  the  time  un- 
fortunate!}' favoured  the  efforts  of  the  dispossessed 
feudatories.  Since  the  conclusion  of  peace  between 
Spain  and  France  at  Cateau-Cambresis,  Italy  had 
been  overrun  b}'  disbanded  soldiers,  who  formed 
robber  trooj^s  with  a  militar}'  organisation,  and  found 
support  from  the  nobles  in  the  Papal  States.  One  of 
these  lawless  companies  under  the  command  of  the 
Duke  of  ^lontemarciano,  who  had  taken  to  the  career 
of  a  brigand  in  consequence  of  his  grievances  against 
the  Pope,  became  the  terror  of  the  Pontiff's  law- 
abiding  subjects.  Another  brigand  chief  styled 
himself  "  King  of  the  Campagna,"  and  plundered  the 
mails  just  outside  the  gates  of  the  city.  Gregory 
tried  to  put  down  these  malefactors  by  force,  but  was 
ultimately  compelled  to  come  to  terms  with  them. 
The  Duke  of  jVIontemarciano  actually  entered  Rome 
under  a  safe  conduct,  accompanied  by  some  fifty 
nobles,  and  attracted  the  respectful  admiration  of  the 
crowd  when  it  was  whispered  that  he  was  onl}^ 
five-and-twenty  and  }et  had  no  less  thati  370  murders 
to  his  account.     We  are   told  that  this   distinijuishcd 


334  TfiP-    INQUISITION  AND    THE   JESUITS 

cut-throat    lodged    with     one    of  the    Cardinals    till 
Gregory  had  granted  him  a  free  pardon. 

In  Rome  itself  public  security  was  constantly 
endangered  b}-  lesser  luminaries  of  the  same  kind. 
There,  as  in  the  countr\-,  the  nobles  sheltered 
fugitives  from  justice,  and  pitched  battles  ensued  in 
and  around  their  palaces  between  the  pajDal  police 
and  the  occupants.  One  of  these  conflicts  cost 
.several  of  the  oldest  families  in  Rome  the  lives  of 
some  of  their  members  ;  the  mob  sided,  of  course, 
with  the  law-breakers,  treated  the  noble  accomplices 
as  mart\-rs,  and  rewarded  the  police  for  their 
professional  zeal  b}-  beheading  their  chief  and 
sticking  his  head  on  the  ramparts  of  Sant'  Angelo. 
Montaigne,  who  visited  Rome  in  1580,  and  stayed  at 
the  famous  Locaiida  dclP  Orso,  which  is  still  standing, 
has  left  a  striking  description  of  the  state  of  the  city 
at  that  time.  Nothing  .seems  to  have  impressed  that 
shrewd  observer  more  than  the  lack  of  business  ;  the 
small  PVench  provincial  towns  were  more  important 
in  that  respect  than  the  religious  capital  of  Catholic 
Europe.  Rome,  too,  he  noticed,  had  become  a 
cosmopolitan  city  where  all  the  world  was  at  home. 
The  houses  he  considered  better  furnished  than  those 
in  Paris,  but  the  new  buildings  much  inferior  to  the 
ancient  monuments.  The  people  he  thought  less 
pious  than  the  French,  and  the  churches  less  beautiful 
than  those  of  some  other  Italian  and  even  some 
French  and  German  cities.  Yet  Gregory  XIII.  was 
most  anxious  to  improve  and  beautify  his  residence, 
and  his  energy  transformed,  not  always  wisely,  the 
appearance  of  several  quarters.       His   inno\ations   at 


^^6  THE   IXQUISITIOX   AXD    THE  JESUJTS 

Aracceli  led  to  the  removal  of  much  that  was  old  and 
interesting  ;  he  replaced  the  Porta  Asinaria  by  the 
present  Porta  San  Giovanni  ;  he  made  the  Via  di 
Monte  Tarpeio  and  the  Via  Merulana  ;  and  he 
drained  the  swamp  which  has  given  its  name  to  the 
Arco  dei  Pantani,  so  that  houses  could  be  built  there. 
He  constructed  the  Gregorian  chapel  in  St.  Peter's, 
and  renewed  some  of  the  frescoes  in  the  Cappella 
Sistina.  The  group  of  the  Dioscuri  was  now  placed 
at  the  top  of  the  central  approach  to  the  Capitol ;  the 
famous  Lex  regia,  which  figured  so  largely  in  the 
story  of  Cola  di  Rienzo,  was  moved  from  the  Lateran 
t(j  the  Capitol,  a  new  campanile  was  built  on  to  the 
Palazzo  del  Senatore,  and  the  facade  of  the  Palazzo 
dei  Conservatori  was  begun.  Now,  too,  was  erected 
the  Villa  Mattel,  and  not  a  few  uf  the  most  celebrated 
Roman  fountains,  such  as  the  picturesque  Fontana 
delle  Tartarughe,  owe  their  inception  to  Gregory 
XIII.  Some  of  the  most  precious  ancient  statues 
were  unearthed  at  this  period — among  them  the 
group  of  Xiobe,  and  the  wrestlers,  which  after 
adorning  the  Pincian  villa  of  Ferdinando  de'  Medici, 
the  greatest  art-collector  of  the  age,  were  sent  to 
Florence  where  they  still  remain. 

One  other  discover}*,  which  was  made  during  this 
pontificate,  proved  to  be  of  the  greatest  scientific 
interest.  On  May  31,  1578,  some  labourers,  digging 
for  pos.co/ana  earth  in  a  vineyard  on  the  Via  Salaria, 
came  across  a  sepulchral  chamber.  The)-  at  unce 
reported  what  the)'  had  found,  and  the  news  excited 
the  deepest  curiosit)-.  The  ecclesiastical  historian, 
Baronius,  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  visit  the  ncwl)'- 


i)/sco]-FA'y  or  thi-.  catacombs  337 

found  cemetery,  has  left  on  record  "  the  amazement 
of  the  city  at  finding  hidden  in  its  suburbs  the 
colonies  of  a  Christian  communit}'."  The  importance 
of  this  happy  accident  could  scarcely  be  exaggerated  ; 
for  the  sepulchral  chamber  of  the  Via  Salaria  was 
none  other  than  what  is  now  known  as  the 
Catacombs  of  Sta.  Priscilla.  The  existence  of  the 
Catacombs  had  been  almost,  if  not  quite,  forgotten 
for  many  a  long  year,  and  now,  as  if  in  a  moment,  by 
a  chance  stroke  of  a  workman's  pick-axe,  those 
extraordinary  memorials  of  a  dead  past  had  been 
all  discovered.  From  the  time  when,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  ninth  centur)-,  Paschalis  I.  had  removed  the 
relics  of  the  Christian  martyrs  to  the  Church  of  Sta. 
Pras.sede,  which  he  had  built  f^r  their  reception,  the 
Catacombs  had  been  almost  wholly  neglected.  We 
can  trace  few  references  to  them  in  the  records  of  the 
seven  following  centuries,  though  here  and  there  an 
inscription,  which  has  since  been  brought  to  light, 
proves  that  occasional  visitors  still  went  to  see  them. 
Thus  a  graffito  with  the  date  of  1321  bids  Christians 
to  "gather  together  in  these  caverns;  to  read  the 
holy  books  ;  to  sing  h}'mns  in  honour  of  the  saints 
and  martyrs  who,  having  died  in  the  Lord,  lie  buried 
here  ;  to  sing  psalms  for  those  who  are  now  dying  in 
the  faith."  And  the  inscription  goes  on  to  remind 
the  faithful  that  "  there  is  light  in  this  darkness ; 
there  is  music  in  these  tombs."  Those  who  have 
been  present  at  a  lecture  in  the  Catacombs  can  best 
imagine  how  impressive  such  a  gathering  of  the 
devout  must  have  been.  From  time  to  time  a  few  of 
them  seem  to  have  come.     Thus,  there  are  traces  of 

23 


33''^  TUF.    INQUISITION   AND    THE  JESIUTS 

a  visit  by  a  Bishop  of  Pisa  in  the  early  years  of  the 
fourteenth  century  ;  in  1397  a  company  of  six 
German  priests  made  a  pilgrimage  to  one  of  the 
cr}'pts,  and  German-like,  left  their  names  there  ; 
while  a  Latin  inscription  of  1467  in  the  Catacombs 
of  St.  Calixtus  briefly  states  that  in  that  year  "  some 
Scots  were  here."  About  the  same  time  several 
members  of  the  Roman  Academy,  including  the 
notorious  Pomponius  Laetus  himself,  would  appear 
to  have  entered  the  Catacombs,  perhaps  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  refuge  there,  as  allusions  to  them 
have  been  found  by  explorers  of  those  dim  recesses. 
But,  to  all  practical  intents,  the  Catacombs  had  been 
forgotten  till  their  strange  discover}'  in  1578.  In  the 
years  that  followed  enormous  labour  was  devoted  to 
their  exploration,  and  the  name  of  Antonio  Bosio,  a 
Maltese,  will  ever  be  connected  with  this  great 
enterprise.  "The  Columbus  of  this  subterranean 
world,"  as  he  has  been  called,  he  would  sometimes 
provide  himself  with  pro\-isions  for  a  week  and  then 
go  underground  till  they  were  exhausted.  He 
devoted  no  less  than  thirty-six  years  to  this  labour 
of  love,  growing  at  last,  like  the  cave-dwellers  in 
Plato,  to  prefer  the  gloom  to  the  light  of  da}-.  Yet 
he  did  not  live  to  see  the  results  of  his  toil  ;  for  his 
book,  Roma  Sottcrranca,  was  not  published  till  after 
his  death. 

But  the  name  of  Gregor\'  has  been  best  perpetuated 
by  the  Gregorian  calendar,  which  he  introduced  in 
1582.  Several  of  his  predecessors  had  felt  the  want 
of  a  reform  in  the  method  of  reckoning  time,  but  to 
him    belongs  the    honour   of    having    summoned    a 


340 


'/'///•;  /.\{)irisiTJOi\  AXD  THE  ji-.suns 


council  of  men  of  science  to  correct  the  errors  which 
had  crept  into  the  JuHan  calendar.  After  four  years' 
labour,  the  result  of  their  deliberations  was  published 
in  the  form  of  a  I3ull,  and  at  once  found  acceptance 
in  Catholic  Europe.  But  in  Protestant  and  con- 
servative England  it  did  not  become  the  law  of  the 
land  till  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  in 
Orthodox  Russia  and  other  lands  under  the  influence 
of  the  Eastern  Church  it  has  not  even  yet  been 
adopted.  The  monument  of  this  Pope  in  St.  Peter's 
appropriately  bears  a  bas-relief,  alluding  to  this 
beneficent  work,  worthy  of  the  best  days  of  the 
Paternal  Cit}'.  P^or  in  this,  at  least,  Gregor)-  was  the 
successor  of  Julius  Caesar. 


XIII 


ROMH    UNDER   SIXTUS    \". 


The  violence  which  had  broken  out  in  Rome 
under  Gregory  XIII.  had  convinced  the  Cardinals 
that  a  strong"  man  was  needed  to  restore  law  and 
order  ;  and  when  at  last  that  Pope  died  they  believed 
that  they  had  found  such  a  man  in  the  Cardinal 
of  Montalto,  who  is  known  in.  histor}'  as  Sixtus  V. 
Felice  Peretti,  to  give  him  his  family  name,  was  the 
son  of  a  poor  gardener,  whose  ancestors,  Slavs  by 
race,  had  left  their  home  on  the  rocky  coasts  of 
Dalmatia  at  the  approach  of  the  Turk  and  had 
sought  a  refuge  on  the  friendly  shores  of  Italy  at 
Grottammare,  which  the  modern  traveller  passes  on 
his  way  from  Ancona  to  Brindisi.  The  future  Pope 
spent  his  early  years  in  tending  the  fruit-trees  and 
minding  the  pigs  ;  and,  as  his  father  was  too  poor  to 
send  him  to  the  village  school,  he  learnt  his  letters 
out  of  the  horn-books,  which  he  borrowed  from  his 
playmates.  A  philanthropic  relative,  a  Franciscan, 
who  thought  that  young  Felice  had  talent,  consented 
to  pay  for  his  education,  and  so  at  twelve  years  of 
age    the    lad    himself    entered     the    ranks    of    the 

341 


342 


ROME    UNDER   S/XTUS    V 


Franciscans.  He  continued  to  educate  himself  with 
the  assiduit}'  with  which  a  bo)'  of  his  age  in  England 
would  devote  himself  to  football,  and  soon  acquired 
the  reputation  of  a  skilful  dialectician.  Then  his 
chance    came.      In    1552    he    was    preaching    in    the 


I^H 

K-       J^p^ 

BF^'^k 

^mJKmjttt^^^^^^i 

r^'^l^lPIH 

L  XwdtwK Mk 

Church  of  the  Hol\-  Apostles  at  Rome,  when  one  day 
he  found  himself  summoned  before  the  Inquisition  on 
the  charge  of  heretical  doctrine.  At  that  time  the 
Grand  InquisitcM-  was  Cardinal  Ghislieri,  afterwards 
Pius  v.,  who  was  so  struck  with  his  theological 
knowledge,  that,  instead  of  punishing  him,  he  became 


PREVIOUS    CAREER    OF  SI  XT  US    V.  343 

his  patron.  From  that  moment  Peretti's  fortune  was 
assured.  Attaching  himself  to  the  thorough-going 
party  of  Ignatius  Loyola  and  Filippo  Neri,  which  was 
then  in  the  ascendant,  he  was  appointed  Vicar- 
General  of  the  Franciscans  by  Pius  V.,  with  the 
express  object  of  reforming  that  order,  and  as  a 
reward  for  his  services  in  that  capacity,  was  nominated 
a  Cardinal  and  a  bishop  of  that  very  see  where  once 
he  had  looked  after  his  father's  pigs  and  fruit.  When 
his  patron  died,  the  Cardinal  of  Montalto  (as  he  now 
styled  himself  from  the  village  of  that  name  near  his 
birthplace)  had  the  sense  to  live  in  comparative 
retirement,  in  his  villa  near  Sta.  Maria  Maggiore, 
planting  trees  and  vines  and  editing  the  works  of  St. 
Ambrose,  but  with  an  eye  all  the  time  to  the  greatest 
prize  of  the  Church.  Once  only  was  his  repose 
disturbed,  when  his  only  nephew  was  found  one 
morning  brutally  murdered  by  the  lover  and  the 
brother  of  his  wife,  the  notorious  Vittoria  Accoram- 
boni.  The  crime  was  characteristic  of  Italian  society 
in  that  turbulent  age.  Vittoria,  a  woman  of  sur- 
passing charm  but  of  low  origin,  had  married  the 
Cardinal  of  Montalto's  nephew  when  she  was  ver)' 
young.  But  the  marriage  did  not  satisfy  the 
ambition  of  her  brother  Marcello,  who  had  already 
committed  one  murder  and  did  not  shrink  from 
another,  if,  by  ridding  his  sister  of  her  husband,  he 
could  obtain  her  a  more  eligible  match.  His  pride 
aspired  to  an  alliance  between  his  sister  and  the  Duke 
of  Bracciano,  a  member  of  the  ancient  family  of 
Orsini,  and  the  Duke's  attentions  to  the  bewitching 
Vittoria  encouraged  the  preposterous  idea.     It  only 


344  ROME    UXDER   SIXTUS    V. 

remained  to  remove  the  superfluous  husband,  and  in 
the  Rome  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  was  not  a 
hard  matter.  The  plot  succeeded,  and  Vittoria 
became  the  wife  of  the  guilt)'  Duke,  in  spite  of  the 
protests  of  the  Orsini  family.  The  extraordinary 
self-possession  which  the  Cardinal  showed  on  the 
occasion  of  this  grim  traged}'  impressed  every  one, 
and  probably  contributed  not  a  little  to  his  election 
as  Pope  two  \'ears  later,  for  we  may  safely  discard 
the  libel  that  he  gained  his  election  b\'  feigning  ill- 
health.  His  first  act  as  Pontiff  was  to  warn  and 
rebuke  the  Duke,  whom  all  suspected  of  being 
concerned  in  his  nephew's  murder.  The  Duke  and 
Duchess  took  the  hint  and  fled  from  Rome.  Nemesis, 
as  usual,  befell  all  the  guilty  actors  in  the  drama. 
The  Duke  died  under  mysterious  circumstances,  the 
Duchess  was  murdered,  and  her  brother  was  sent  to 
the  gallows  by  the  Pope.  x'\nd  this  was  merely  the 
prelude  to  a  general  onslaught  on  the  bandits  who 
had  made  Rome  and  the  Papal  States  their  hunting- 
ground.  He  began  by  making  extradition-treaties 
with  neighbouring  states,  and  by  threatening  condign 
punishment  to  all  persons  who  harboured  criminals. 
Some  of  his  measures  might  with  advantage  have 
been  adopted  by  even  nineteenth  century  rulers  of 
brigand-haunted  countries.  Towns  and  communes 
were  held  responsible  for  the  crimes  committed 
within  their  boundaries  ;  the  relatives  of  robbers  were 
considered  as  guilt)'  of  the  misdeeds  of  those 
scoundrels  ;  a  free  pardon  was  offered  to  all  who 
rejected  the  time-honoured  maxim  of  "  honour  among 
thieves."     .Sixtus    \'.    was    no    respecter    of   persons. 


STERN   MEASURES  345 

His  officers  forced  the  doors  of  suspected  Cardinals 
no  less  than  those  of  peasants  ;  it  was  a  crime,  punish- 
able by  death,  to  be  found  in  possession  of  forbidden 
weapons.  Gallows  were  erected  about  the  country, 
and  soon  bore  their  hideous  fruit ;  it  was  said  one 
summer  that  there  were  more  heads  on  the  Ponte 
Sant'  Angelo  than  melons  in  the  Roman  fruit-market. 
The  powerless  Romans  who  had  a  sneaking  liking 
for  the  Claude  Duvals  of  their  city  resorted  to  the  aid 
of  Pasquino,  and  vented  their  rage  on  the  Pope  by 
anonymous  lampoons  ;  Sixtus  retorted  like  Hadrian 
VI.  by  threatening  to  throw  Pasquino  with  his 
precious  literar}'  freight  into  the  Tiber.  When  the 
Conservatori  complained  to  him  that  the  rotting  heads 
polluted  the  air,  he  replied,  "  Gentlemen,  in  that  case 
you  can  go  elsewhere."  His  stern  policy  did  not  tend 
to  make  him  beloved,  but  the  best  compliment  ever 
paid  him  was  that  of  the  foreign  diplomatists,  who 
commented  on  the  c|uiet  of  the  city  and  the  Papal 
States  under  his  iron  rule.  Unfortunatel)'  it  did  not 
long  survive  him. 

Always  a  careful  manager,  he  saved  each  year  a 
large  sum,  which  he  deposited  in  the  Castle  of  Sant' 
Angelo  for  the  special  emergencies  of  the  Church, 
such  as  a  new  crusade  against  the  Turks,  a  famine  or 
a  pestilence,  the  defence  of  a  Catholic  countr}-,  or  the 
recovery  of  a  revolted  province  of  the  Papal  States. 
But,  in  his  zeal  to  provide  for  the  future,  he  revived 
and,  indeed,  increased,  some  of  the  worst  abuses  of 
his  predecessors.  He  sold  many  offices  which  had 
never  been  sold  before,  and  augmented  the  prices  of 
others  which  had  been  ordinarily  disposed  of  in  this 


346  ROME    UNDER   SIXTUS    V. 

simoniacal  fashion  but  at  comparatively  cheap  rates. 
He  imposed  duties,  according  to  the  modern  Itahan 
s}'stem,  on  the  most  necessary  articles  of  con- 
sumption, and  debased  the  coinage.  Imitating  the 
example,  first  set  by  Clement  VII.  and  followed  by 
several  of  his  successors,  he  founded  Monti,  or  as 
modern  financiers  would  say,  raised  loans  on  the 
security  of  certain  revenues  ear-marked  and  set  apart 
for  the  purpose.  The  earliest  of  these  loans,  the 
so-called  Monte  della  Fede,  dated  from  1526,  when 
the  interest  of  ten  per  cent,  was  paid  out  of  the 
produce  of  the  city  dues.  Others  rapidly  followed  ; 
we  hear  of  a  Monte  di  sale  ed  oro  and  a  Monte  del 
niaeinato,  the  security  for  which  was,  in  the  one  case 
the  duties  on  salt  and  gold,  in  the  other  the  tax  on 
grinding  corn.  But  no  Pope  went  so.  far  in  this 
direction  as  Sixtus  V.,  and  Rome  soon  resembled  a 
Balkan  State  of  our  own  days  which  has  pledged 
every  source  of  revenue  as  a  security  for  its  loans. 
The  money  was  usually  advanced  b\'  the  Genoese 
bankers,  the  Rothschilds  of  that  age,  and  the  Pope 
derived  expert  advice  from  a  Portuguese  Jew,  who 
had  fled  from  the  Inquisition  in  Portugal,  and  found 
that  in  Rome  his  theological  heresies  were  more  than 
atoned  for  by  his  heresies  of  finance.  The  combina- 
tion was  a  distinctly  humorous  one,  especially  when 
we  remember  the  stern  measures  of  Paul  IV.  against 
the  Hebrew  race.  But  Sixtus  was  shrewd  enough  to 
appreciate  the  financial  skill  of  the  Jews,  just  as  some 
of  his  predecessors  had  been  glad  of  their  medical 
aid. 

The  next  reform  of  his  reign  was  the  reconstitution 


RECONSTITUTION   OF   THE   SACRED    COLLEGE        ^4^ 

of  the  College  of  Cardinals.  Following  the  scriptural 
analog)'  of  the  seventy  appointed  by  our  Lord,  the 
number  of  the  Cardinals  was  in  1586  also  fixed  at 
sevent}',  and  the  College  ^\■as  made  to  consist  of  six 
bishops  of  the  ancient  suburban  sees,  fifty  priests,  and 
fourteen  deacons  ;  the  Bishop  of  Ostia  remained  the 
doye/i  of  the  College.  The  actual  number  of  the 
Cardinals  has  varied  since  thatdate,'  but  in  theory  the 
arrangements  of  Sixtus  V.  have  continued  down  to 
our  own  da\'.  Another  ecclesiastical  innovation  was 
that  regulating  the  system  of  committees  of  Cardinals, 
which  had  been  instituted  by  Paul  III.  for  the  better 
and  speedier  transaction  of  business,  instead  of  the 
former  practice  of  referring  everxthing  to  the  Con- 
sistory, or  whole  body.  A  Bull  of  1588  fixed  the 
number  of  these  committees,  or  "  Congregations,"  at 
fifteen,  a  number  increased  since  that  time.  The 
presidenc)'  of  the  most  important  of  these  com- 
mittees, that  of  the  Inc^uisition,  Sixtus  reserved  for 
himself,  but  in  all  cases  the  final  decision  la\-  with 
him.  The  general  effect  of  these  provisions  was  to 
give  a  strongly  clerical  stamp  to  the  whole  business 
of  the  Roman  State.  It  is  true  that  se\-eral  of  these 
"Congregations"  dealt  with  purel}MTmndane  affairs, 
such  as  the  building  of  bridges  and  the  protection  of 
the  sea-coasts.  But  these  matters  were  none  the  less 
left  in  clerical  hands,  and  from  this  period  onwards 
the  Papal  States  were  almost  entirely  governed  by 
ecclesiastics,  with  the  result  that  the\-  were,  at  the 
Unificatic^n  of  Italy,  among  the  most  backward  and 

'  All  the  vacancies  are  rarely  tilleil  ;  l)Ul  at  present  there  are  sixty- 
seven  Cardinals,  forty  Italians,  and  tweniv- seven  foreitrners. 


34^  I'^OME    UXDER    SIXTUS    V. 

neglected  provinces  of  the  kingdom.  To  attain  high 
office  there  it  was  henceforth  necessary  to  be  a  cleric, 
and  both  religion  and  administration  suffered  by  the 
imposition  of  this  theological  test. 

Sixtus  was,  however,  really  anxious  to  benefit  his 
subjects  in  all  that  he  did  ;  and,  if  he  erred,  it  was 
because  he  meant  only  too  well.  He  tried,  like  so 
many  other  rulers  of  Rome,  to  drain  the  Pontine 
Marshes,  where  the  Canal  known  as  Fiume  Sisto 
still  bears  witness  to  his  labours  ;  he  planned  the 
formation  of  a  much-wanted  harbour  for  the  coast  of 
Latium,  and  improved  that  of  Civita  Vecchia  ;  the 
bridge  over  the  Tiber  at  Borghetto  near  Orte  is 
called  Ponte  Felice  after  him,  and  on  his  native 
district  he  showered  numerous  benefits.  Yet  he 
found  time  to  take  part  in  foreign  politics  as  well. 
The  attack  of  the  Spanish  Armada  coincided  with 
his  reign  ;  and,  after  having  begun  by  considering  it 
possible  to  convert  Queen  Elizabeth,  Sixtus  was  at 
last  persuaded  by  the  Spanish  xAmbassador  to  give 
his  moral  support  to  that  naval  enterprise.  But  the 
astute  Pontiff  was  not  willing  to  pay  anything 
towards  the  costs  until  the  Spaniards  should  have 
actually  set  foot  on  English  soil.  Even  when  the 
news  arrived  that  the  Armada  was  already  in 
English  waters,  the  wily  Pope  was  not  to  be 
drawn  ;  and  when  its  defeat  was  announced,  he 
hinted  that  it  was  just  what  he  had  expected. ^  To 
France,  after  the  murder  of  Henri  HI.,  he  sent  a 
message,  urging  the  election  of  a  Catholic  king  ;  but 

■  See  his  very  amusinj^  interview's  with  ihc  S]-)anisli   Aml)assador  in 
YxowAfi\  History  of  Eiiglami,  vol.  xii. 


A    GREAT  BUILDER  349 

he  began  to  temporise,  when  he  saw  how  strong  was 
the  feeh'ng  in  favour  of  Henri  IV.  In  both  cases,  his 
zeal  for  the  Cathohc  rehgion  was  tempered  by  the 
fear  of  allowing  Spain  to  become  too  powerful.  It 
was  at  this  crisis  that  he  died,  in  1590,  after  a  reign 
of  only  five  }'ears,  in  which  he  had  achieved  more 
than  many  rulers  would  have  accomplished  in  five- 
and-twenty. 

It  is  from  him  that  the  Rome  of  our  da}-,  and  still 
more  that  of  the  jjeriod  before  1870,  derived  the  most 
striking  of  her  external  features.  Sixtus  was  a  great 
builder,  and,  when  we  consider  that  after  his  brief 
spell  of  office  he  left  a  large  sum  behind  him  in  the 
coffers  of  Sant'  Angelo,  it  is  marvellous  that  he  could 
find  the  money  for  such  great  and  numerous  works, 
and  that  he  managed  to  build  so  much  in  so  short 
a  time.  But  in  this  respect,  as  in  all  that  he  under- 
took, his  energy  knew  no  obstacles.  He  brought  the 
Acqua  Felice  from  the  Alban  hills  to  the  Cit}%  and 
at  his  bidding  Domenico  Fontana  erected  the 
Fontanone  from  which  it  issues  at  the  corner  of 
what  is  now  the  Via  Venti  Settembre.  Almost  the 
whole  of  the  buildings  in  the  Piazza  di  San  Giovanni 
in  Laterano  were  raised  by  him,  for  he  rebuilt  the 
I>ateran  palace,  which  had  lain  in  ruins  since  the 
great  fire  of  1308,  added  the  portico  to  the  facade 
of  the  south  transept  of  the  Lateran  basilica,  and 
constructed  the  portico  of  the  edifice  which  contains 
the  Scala  Santa.  The  obelisk  in  the  centre  of  the 
square,  which  was  discovered  during  his  reign  in  the 
Circus  Maximus,  owes  its  erection  on  its  present  site 
to  him.     The  still  more  famous  obelisk  in  front  of 


SCALA    SWTA. 


OBELISKS  3  5  I 

St.  Peter's  was  removed  at  his  orders  from  its  old 
position  in  the  Vatican  Circus  and  hoisted  up  with 
great  cHfficuhy  into  the  perpendicular.  This  was  the 
occasion,  when  the  Sanremese  sailor,  Bresca,  obtained 
for  himself  and  his  relatives  the  privilege  of  providing 
the  palms  for  St.  Peter's  on  Palm  Sunda}',  as  a 
reward  for  his  timely  cry  to  throw  "  water  on  the 
ropes  " — a  privilege  still  enjoyed  by  his  descendants 
at  Bordighera.i  Two  other  familiar  obelisks,  that  in 
the  Piazza  del  Popolo  and  that  in  the  Piazza  dell' 
tLsquilino,  were  moved  by  this  Pope's  orders  to  their 
respective  sites,  while  the  columns  of  Trajan  and 
Marcus  Aurelius  were  repaired  at  his  instigation,  and 
statues  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  placed  on  their 
summits.  At  the  Vatican  he  began  the  wing  which 
has  since  served  as  a  residence  to  his  successors,  and 
bade  Fontana  erect  the  j^resent  building  which 
contains  the  librar}'.  The  dome  of  St.  Peter's,  after 
having  remained  unfinished  for  nearl}-  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  was  completed  b}-  him,  and  so  great  was 
his  impatience — for  he  felt  that  he  might  die  before 
the  work  was  finished — that  he  rejected  the  estimate 
of  one  architect  soleh'  because  he  had  demanded  a 
year  for  the  erection  of  the  necessary  scaffolding. 
When  Sixtus  had  found  others,  who  undertook  to 
do  the  whole  work  in  a  comparatively  shorter  time, 
he  kept  eight  hundred  men  hard  at  it  night  and  day 
till  it  was  finished,  three  months  before  his  death. 
But  the  lantern  was  not  completed  till  a  little  after 
that  event.     He  embellished   his  fa\'ourite  church  of 

'  The  story  is  best  told  in  Ruffini's  quaint  novel,  still  the  best  guide- 
book to  Bordighera,  "  Doctor  Antonio." 


352  ROM  I:     UXDER    S /ATI'S     i: 

Sta.   Maria   Maggiore  with   its   Sistine  chapel,  where 
his  own  monument  now  stands,  and  where  as  a  plain 
Cardinal    he    had    erected    the    tomb    of  his    fellow- 
countryman    from    the    Marches,   Nicholas    IV.     He 
re-erected,  too,  the   Church  of  San  Girolamo  dcgli 
Schiavoni,    and    constructed    the    street,    which    still 
commemorates  his  name,  the  Via  Sistina,  as  well  as 
the   continuation,   the    Via   delle    Quattro    Fontane. 
These   improvements    revolutionised    the   aspect   of 
large   parts   of  the   cit}-,  but,  as  usual,  the  construc- 
tions of  Sixtus  were  the  cause  of  further  destruction 
of  antiquities,  for  which  this  severel)'  practical  Pope 
cared  ver}'  little.    Thus,  he  destroyed  the  Septizonium 
of  Severus,  which  had  existed  ever  since  the  end  of 
the  second   century  of  our    era,  in    order    to   obtain 
materials  for  the  work  at  St.  Peter's.      In  his  eager- 
ness to  develop  the  wool   industr}',  he  converted  the 
Colosseum   into   a    manufactory   of  that    useful,  but 
prosaic,  commodit)',  and  was  onl)'  prevented   b\'  the 
universal  indignation  of  the  people  from  pulling  down 
the  tomb  of  Cecilia  Metella,  which  he  had  actual!)- 
begun  to  destroy.     To  provide  a  suitable  site  for  the 
horse-tamers  in  the  Piazza  del  Ouirinale,  he  ruthlessly 
swept  away  the  remains  of  some  ancient  buildings. 
To    set    against    these    acts    of    vandalism    ma}-    be 
mentioned  the  erection  of  the  so-called  Trophies  of 
Marius,  which  were   discovered   on  the    Msquiline  in 
the  last  year  of  his  reign,  in  their  present  position  on 
the  balustrade  of  the  Piazza  del  Campidoglio.     The 
original  basalt  lions,  which  adorned  the  Fontana  delle 
Terme  till  the  days  of  Gregory  XVI.,  were  placed 
there  by  Sixtus,  but  are  now  in  the  Egyptian  Museum 


DEATH   OF  SlXTl'S    /'.  353 

of  the  Vatican.  Thus,  he  altered  not  a  lew  of  the 
famih'ar  landmarks ;  but,  if  here  and  there  he  destroyed 
too  hastily,  he  yet  deserves  the  title  of  the  renovator 
of  Rome.  No  one,  even  now,  can  help  being  struck 
by  the  frequency  with  which  his  name  recurs  in  the 
architectural  history  of  the  city,  and  yet  this  was  only 
one  of  his  many  and  varied  activities. 

Sixtus,  like  most  legislators  in  a  hurry,  had  made 
many  enemies  ;  and,  the  moment  that  his  death  was 
announced,  it  was  said  of  him,  as  of  Alexander  VI., 
that  the  devil  had  carried  off  his  soul.  During  his 
lifetime  the  Senate  had  erected  a  marble  statue  to 
him  on  the  Capitol  with  a  laudator)-  inscription, 
recalling  his  restoration  of  order  and  his  restoration 
of  Rome.  The  mob  now  threatened  to  tear  it  from 
its  pedestal,  and  was  only  prevented  from  doing  so 
by  the  intervention  of  the  nobles  and  the  respectable 
citizens.  But  the  incident  led  to  a  prohibition  of  the 
erection  of  such  monuments  to  living  Popes,  a  prohi- 
bition which  was  subsequently  repealed.  The  mature 
judgment  of  posterity,  unclouded  by  the  passions  of 
the  moment,  has  pronounced  Sixtus  V.  to  be  one  of 
the  greatest  occupants  of  the  Papacy,  and  in  the  three 
centuries  which  have  elapsed  since  his  death  there 
has  been  no  name  of  equal  eminence  among  his 
successors.  In  the  words  of  Gibbon,  his  "wild  and 
original  character  stands  alone  in  the  series  of  the 
Pontiffs." 

The  remaining  events  of  the  sixteenth  century  need 
not  long  detain  us.  Sixtus,  with  a  humorous  pun  on 
his  name  of  Peretti  and  tlie  pears  (/tvv)  in  his  coat 
of  arms,  had  said  in  his  last  day.s,  "  Rome  has  had 

-4 


354  ROME    UNDER   SfXTUS    V. 

enough  of  the  pears,  now  it  is  the  turn  of  the  chest- 
nut." I     The    saying    was    an    aUusion    to   Castagna, 
whom  he  thus  marked  out  as  his  successor,  and  his 
forecast  came  true.     But  Castagna,  who  cahed  himself 
Urban  VII.,  reigned  only  thirteen  days,  and  the  next 
two  Popes,  Gregory  XIV.  and    Innocent   IX.,  com- 
pleted no  more  than  a  )'ear  between  them.     Yet  brief 
as  was  their  rule,  the  condition  of  Rome  and  of  the 
States  of  the  Church  had  already  begun  to  deteriorate. 
A  terrible  pestilence  and  an  equally  terrible  famine 
devastated   the  city  and   the  country  alike,  carrying 
off  thousands  of  victims,  and  the  unwise  intervention 
of  Gregor}'  in  the  affairs  oi  France,  by  sending  papal 
troops  to  fight  against  Henri  IV.,  enormously  reduced 
the  hoard,  which  Sixtus  had  laid  up  in  Sant'  Angelo, 
without      the      smallest     corresponding     advantage. 
Robber  bands  again  appeared  at  the  gates  of  Rome, 
and  it  was  not  till  after  the  election  of  the  next  Pope, 
Clement   VIII.,  that  the  worst  of  them  were  rooted 
out,  or  sent  in  the  service  of  Venice  to  Crete,  where 
they  found   congenial  occupation   in  oppressing  the 
native    Greek    population.     But    the    smaller    chief- 
tains, with   their   followers,   still   continued   to   prowl 
about   the   Campagna,  whence   it  was    hard   to  dis- 
lodge   them.      In    1595    the    Venetian    Ambassador 
estimated    the    number    of    these    "  emigrants,"     as 
they   were    euphemistically    called,    at     15,000,    and 
wrote   that    hardly    a    day    passed    without    a    fresh 
supply    of  heads    arriving    for    the    bridge    of  Sant' 
Angelo.       The    losses    of  the    papal    troops    in    this 

'   Tliis    inridciil    is    ])lcasuill\    U>ld    in     JJourgcl's    charniiiiy    nuvcl 
"  Cosinopolis.'" 


DECLINE    OE  ROME  355 

guerilla  warfare  had  been  enormous  during  the 
previous  five  years,  and  the  condition  of  those  forces 
was  greatly  inferior  to  what  it  had  been.  The  papal 
navy  also  was  decaying,  and  the  papal  harbours  of 
Ancona  and  Civita  Vecchia  falling  into  neglect  ;  only 
five  hundred  men  were  available  for  the  manning  of 
the  fleet.  The  revenues,  like  the  trade  and  industry 
of  the  city,  had  declined  since  the  death  of  Sixtus, 
while  useless  luxury  had  increased,  and  ostentation 
once  more  became  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the 
Roman  Court.  The  old  Roman  families  were  being 
elbowed  out  of  the  way  by  upstart  houses,  with 
Mhich  they  could  no  longer  compete  in  extravagance, 
though,  as  is  the  case  in  both  England  and  Italy 
to-day,  they  sometimes  recovered  their  [position  b}- 
matrimonial  alliances  with  the  new-comers.  But 
their  former  influence  at  papal  elections  had  dwindled 
away  ;  so,  too,  had  their  military  prowess.  If  they 
and  the  Roman  people  generally  continued  to  be 
well-affected  to  the  Papacy,  it  was  because  they  saw 
that  another  Avignon  would  mean  the  absolute  ruin 
of  Rome,  which  no  longer  occupied,  even  in  the 
Catholic  world,  the  hegemony  of  which  had  passed 
to  Spain,  that  proud  position  which  she  had  held 
before  the  Reformation.  The  Venetians,  the 
shrewdest  observers  of  their  time,  saw  clearh'  thai 
the  Roman  territory  owed  its  preservation  not  to  any 
merits  of  its  government  but  simply  to  the  facts 
that  it  was  the  home  of  the  Pope  and  that  its 
incorporation  in  any  other  state  would  destroy  the 
balance  of  power  in  Italy.  But  their  ^Ambassador 
declared   with   prophetic   insight   that,   "  if  any  great 


356  ROME    UNDER    SI  XT  US    V. 

revolution  took  place  in  Italy,  the  States  of  the 
Church  with  all  the  elements  of  disorder  which  they 
contain  would  run  no  small  risk." 

Such  were  the  adverse  circumstances  with  which 
Clement  VIII.  had  to  grapple  in  the  last  decade 
of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  according  to  his  lights  he  steered  the  vessel 
of  the  Church  with  discretion  and  worldh'  wisdom. 
Chosen  b)'  a  Conclave  which  had  been  divided  by  the 
rival  interests  of  France  and  Spain,  he  had  the  good 
sense  to  make  peace  with  Henri  IV.,  who  had  "found 
salvation  "  when  he  had  discovered  that  he  would 
thereby  gain  Paris.  In  1595  the  solemn  reconciliation 
between  the  two  potentates  took  place  beneath  the 
portico  of  St.  Peter's,  where  representatives  of  the 
King  knelt  down  before  the  Pope,  as  so  many  a 
royal  envoy  had  done  in  the  days  that  were  gone. 
As  a  faint  reminiscence  of  the  old  crusading  spirit 
of  the  Papacy,  the  papal  guards  were  sent  to  take 
part  in  the  defence  of  Hungarv  against  the  Turks. 
And  the  declining  years  of  the  century  saw  the 
accomplishment,  by  peaceful  means,  of  what  the  old 
Popes  had  attempted  by  force — the  incorporation 
of  the  Duchy  of  Ferrara  with  the  Papal  States  in 
consequence  of  the  extinction  of  the  main  line  of 
Este.  But  at  the  same  time  other  and  less  agreeable 
reminiscences  of  the  old  days  were  revived  which 
cast  a  lurid  light  on  the  state  of  society  in  Rome. 

The  portraits  of  Lucrezia  and  Beatrice  Cenci  (if, 
indeed,  the  latter  be  genuine^  in  the  Barberini  palace, 
and  the  pen  of  Shelley  have  given  universal  notoriety 
to  those  who  took  part  in  the  terrible  drama   which 


THE    CRN  CI  357 

was  enacted  at  this  period.  Count  Francesco  Cenci, 
whose  crimes  would  almost  fill  a  page,  was  murdered 
in  1 598  by  two  hired  assassins  under  circumstances 
of  peculiar  cruelty.  The  murderers  entered  their 
victim's  bedroom  in  his  castle  of  Petrella  in  the 
mountains  of  Apulia    and    slew  him    while  he   was 


BEATRICE   CEXCI. 

(From  a  porfmit  in  the  Bavhcriui  Palace] 

a.sleep.     Shelle}',  in  his  tragedy  of  "  The  Cenci,"  has 
made  one  of  the  assassins  describe  the  ghastly  scene  : 

"  We  strangled  him,  thai  tlierc  niiglit  he  no  l)h3od  : 
And  then  we  threw  his  heavy  corpse  1'  the  garden 
Under  the  balcony  ;  'twill  seem  it  fell," 


35^  ROME    UNDER    SIXTIES    ]'. 

But  the  more  usual  version  of  the  story  is  that  they 
killerl  the  Count,  as  Jael  killed  Sisera,  by  driving  a 
nail  into  his  temples.  At  first  it  seemed  as  if  the 
murder  would  remain  imdiscovered  and  unavenged, 
and  the  Count's  sorrowing  children  kept  up  appear- 
ances by  returning  to  the  famil)^  palace  in  Rome, 
clothed  in  the  deepest  mourning.  But  suspicion  fell 
upon  the  two  murderers,  and  a  warrant  was  issued 
for  their  arrest.  Fearing  lest  they  should  compromise 
bv  their  disclosures  the  real  authors  of  the  crimiC,  a 
priest,  who  had  been  the  accomplice,  and,  it  is  said, 
the  lover  of  the  beautiful  Beatrice  Cenci,  the  murdered 
Count's  daughter,  hired  a  second  pair  of  ruffians  to 
kill  the  first.  But  this  fresh  plot  was  only  partially 
successful.  One  of  the  Count's  assassins  was,  indeed, 
removed  ;  but  his  fellow,  Marzio,  escaped  the  daggers 
of  the  cut-throats,  only,  however,  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  papal  emissaries.  Put  upon  the  rack,  he 
made  a  full  confession,  which  pointed  to  the  inurdered 
man's  children,  Giacomo,  Bernardo,  and  Beatrice, 
and  to  their  step-mother,  Lucrezia,  as  the  instigators 
of  the  crime.  The  four  accused  were  arrested,  and 
the  only  defence  which  the  youthful  Beatrice's  advo- 
cate could  find  was  that  she  had  suffered  unendurable 
provocation  from  her  inhuman  father.  The  girl 
herself  so  terrified  the  wretched  Marzio,  when  con- 
fronted with  him,  that  he  recanted  his  confession 
and  declared  her  innocent,  nor  could  further  tortures 
make  him  renew  his  accusation.  Beatrice's  brothers, 
Giacomo  and  Bernardo,  yielded,  however,  to  the 
terrors  of  the  rack,  and  made  a  full  confession  of 
their  guilt.     Beatrice  herself  for  a  long  time  defied 


her  judges  and  showed  an  obstinate  courage,  over 
which  her  sex  and  youth — she  was  only  twenty- 
two — have  cast  an  additional  glamour.  The  visitcn' 
to  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelomay  still  see  the  prison, 
where  she  is  supposed  to  have  been  confined  before 
her  execution  on  the  bridge  outside,  and  where  she 
is  said  to  have  undergone  the  most  excruciating- 
tortures.  Her  step-mother  and  her  brother,  Giacomo, 
shared  her  fate  ;  Bernardo's  j-outh  saved  him  from 
the  punishment  of  his  crime.  Of  their  guilt  there  can 
be  no  doubt  whatever  ;  but  those  who  still  SN^mpathise 
with  Beatrice's  sufferings  may  pay  their  respects  to 
her  memory  at  tlie  altar  of  San  Pietro  in  Alontorio, 
where  b)-  her  wish  she  was  buried,  reflecting,  as  the}' 
climb  the  road,  that  the  wall,  which  supports  it,  was 
built  out  of  money  bequeathed  b}'  her  in  her  last 
hours.  No  monument  marks  her  last  resting-place,  but 
the  gloomy  Palazzo  Cenci  still  stands  and  recalls  the 
grim  deeds  of  that  crime-burdened  famil)^  Their 
property  passed  to  the  Pope,  and  it  is  possible  that 
the  prospect  of  this  magnificent  windfall  may  have 
increased  Clement's  zeal  for  justice  on  the  parricides. 
Still  the  Cenci  were  not  the  onh-  high-born 
criminals  of  those  da)'s.  Even  while  their  trial  was 
going  on,  one  of  the  Santacroce  famil}'  murdered  his 
mother,  and  met  with  a  violent  death  ;  his  brother 
and  accomplice  was  executed  on  the  bridge  of  Sant' 
Angelo  ;  and  these  tragedies  were  crowned  b)-  the 
act  of  the  young  Massimi,  who  killed  their  step- 
motlier.  Such  crimes  as  these  among  the  Roman 
nobility  might  well  seem  to  have  called  down  on  the 
guilty    city    the    terrible    inundation    of    1 598 — one 


360  ROMF.    UXDER    S/A/CS    V. 

of  the  worst  on  record,  of  which  those  who  witnessed 
the  great  floods  of  1900  can  form  an  adequate  idea. 
No  less  than  fifteen  hundred  persons  lost  their  lives, 
and  the  Tiber  swept  away  two  arches  of  the  old 
^milian  bridge,  known  in  the  Middle  Ages  as  the 
Ponte  Sta.  Maria,  and  rebuilt  b\'  Gregory  XIII. 
only  twenty-three  years  earlier.  It  was  to  this 
damage  that  the  bridge  owes  its  modern  name  of 
Ponte  Rotto.  The  twelfth  Jubilee,  held  in  1600,  was 
some  relief  after  this  grievous  disaster. 

One  distinguished  figure,  which  had  added  lustre 
to  the  anno  santo  of  twenty-five  years  before,  was, 
however,  missing  on  this  occasion.  The  poet  Tasso 
had  been  invited  from  his  home  at  Sorrento  by 
Clement  \"III.  in  1594  to  receive  the  laurel  crown  on 
the  Capitol,  like  Petrarch  before  him.  He  came,  but 
the  ceremony  was  delayed  by  bad  weather,  and  ere 
it  took  place,  he  had  passed  away  in  the  Monastery 
of  Sant'  Onofrio  on  the  slope  of  the  Janiculum  on 
April  25,  1595.  The  cell  in  which  he  resided,  his 
bust  in  wax,  the  oak  under  which  he  sat,  and  the 
monument  which  was  raised  to  him  in  the  adjoining 
church,  may  still  be  seen ;  the  date  of  his  death  is  still 
observed  at  Sant'  Onofrio,  and  the  tercentenary  of 
that  event  was  commemorated  all  over  Italy.  Thus, 
all  the  four  great  Italian  poets,  Dante,  Petrarch,  xAriosto 
and  Tasso  were  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
Paternal  City  :  but  the  last  alone  reposes  there.  A  still 
more  melancholy  scene  marked  the  earh-  part  of  this 
\-ear  of  Jubilee.  Giordano  Bruno,  a  Neapolitan,  who 
had  abandoned  the  Dominican  Order  and  struck  out  a 
line  for  himself  as  an  independent  thinker,  had  been 


362  ROME    UXDIiR    S/XTUS    I'. 

arrested  in  \"enice  and  delivered  up  to  the  Roman 
authorities.  After  languishing  for  seven  years  in  the 
dungeons  of  the  Inquisition  and  scornfulh'  refusing 
to  purchase  his  freedom  b}^  a  l}'ing  confession  of 
faith,  he  was  burned  in  the  Campo  di  Fiore  on 
February  17,  1600.  Bruno's  executif)n  has  been 
the  source  of  no  small  annoyance  to  the  lineal 
descendants  of  his  persecutors.  The  statue  of  him, 
which  now  stands  on  the  spot  "  where  the  faggots 
burnt,"  was  erected  by  his  admirers  in  1889,  in  spite 
of  the  remonstrances  of  the  clerical  party  ;  his  name 
still  survives  as  an  anti-clerical  battle  cry  and  may 
be  seen  chalked  up  on  the  walls  of  Rome  ;  and  the 
celebration  of  the  tercentenary  of  his  death  last  year, 
though  discouraged  by  the  Italian  Government,  was 
kept  b}'  the  extreme  section  opposed  to  the  Vatican. 
This  last  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century,  though 
not  so  productive  of  changes  in  the  appearance  of 
Rome  as  the  five  years  of  Sixtus  V.,  still  contributed 
to  make  the  city  what  we  know  it.  The  Church  of  Sant' 
Andrea  della  Valle  was  begun,  and  other  buildings 
were  cleared  away  to  make  room  for  it ;  the  baths  of 
Diocletian  came  partial!}'  into  the  possession  of  a 
devout  lad)-,  who  converted  the  rotunda  into  the 
present  Church  of  San  Bernardo  ;  the  Palazzo  del 
Senatore  recei\'ed  its  present  facade,  and  was  adorned 
with  a  grandiloquent  inscription  commemorative  of 
the  exploits  of  Clement  VHI.  ;  the  leaden  roof  of  the 
Pantheon  was  restored  ;  the  tomb  known  as  the 
Monte  del  Grano,  outside  the  Porta  San  Giovanni, 
was  opened,  and  from  it  emerged  the  sarcophagus 
of  Alexander  Severus  and  Mamma^a,  which  is  now 


coNcrjrs/ox  363 

in  the  Capitoline  Museum  ;  finall\'  tlie  first  scientific 
investigation  of  the  Catacombs  was  commenced,  thus 
adding  a  new  interest  to  those  witli  \\'hich  the  name 
of  Rome  was  ah'eady  invested. 

We  have  now  traversed  some  five  centuries  of  the 
history  of  the  Eternal  City.  We  have  seen  how,  under 
the  rule  of  over  seventy  Popes,  the  fortunes  of  Rome 
varied  during  that  period,  long  in  the  annals  of  most 
nations,  yet  only  a  fraction  of  the  extraordinary,  and 
as  \'et  unfinished,  career  of  that  marvellous  creation. 
The  meteor-like  course  of  Ilildebrand,  the  life  and 
death  of  Arnold  of  Brescia,  the  masterful  figure  of 
the  Tiiird  Innocent,  the  melancholy  failure  of  the 
dreamer  ("ola  di  Rienzo,  and  his  still  more  unfortunate 
disciple  Porcaro,  the  crimes  of  the  Sixth  Alexander, 
and  the  pomps  and  pageants  of  Leo  X.  ;  all  these 
things  fall  within  the  period  which  we  ha\'e  described. 
The  quarrels  of  rival  Roman  houses,  the  widowed 
state  of  the  cit}-  during  the  absence  of  the  Popes  at 
Avignon,  the  sack  of  Rome  by  her  worse  than  Gothic 
invaders,  the  revival  of  religious  zeal,  and  the  con- 
sequent development  of  the  Inquisition,  have  been 
traced,  and  we  have  watched  the  transformation  of 
the  cit}'  at  the  hands  of  the  great  Pope  with  whose 
reign  this  chapter  has  been  chiefly  concerned. 
Mediaeval  Rome  has,  like  Media^^val  Greece,  attracted 
less  general  attention  than  the  classical  period.  Yet 
the  Rome  of  the  Popes  contains  some  lessons  for  us, 
which  the  Rome  of  the  Kings,  that  of  the  Republic, 
and  that  of  the  early  Empire  lack.  If  there  be  one 
truth  which  emerges  more  clearly  than  another  from 
the  records  of  this  period,  it  is  that  the  union  of  the 


364  ROME    UNDER    SEXTUS    V. 

spiritual  and  temporal  power  in  the  same  hand  is 
disastrous,  alike  to  the  religious  and  political  welfare 
of  both  rulers  and  ruled.  The  days  when  Rome  and 
her  master  were  involved  in  every  petty  intrigue  of 
mediaeval  diplomac}'  were  the  worst  for  Catholicism  ; 
the  attempt  of  the  Popes  to  govern  a  State  by  the 
maxims  of  a  cloister  or  a  Jesuit  college  was  a  failure 
which  has  even  now  left  traces  behind  it.  Nor  should 
it  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  reader,  that  many 
of  the  evils  with  \\hich  the  mediaeval  city  and  the 
Patrimon}'  of  St.  Peter  were  afflicted  could  not  have 
occurred  in  an)'  Catholic  State  which  was  governed 
by  an  hereditar)-  monarch}-.  Poland  and  Rome  both 
point  the  moral  of  elective  sovereignty — a  thing 
excellent  in  theor}',  but,  like  most  excellent  theories, 
ruinous  in  practice.  The  .system  by  which  the  ruler 
of  Mediaeval  Rome  was  always  old,  almost  always 
surrounded  b)-  a  host  of  relatives,  and  almost  always 
selected  for  some  purely,  or  impurely,  political 
consideration,  could  not  have  been  other  than  bad. 
To  the  almost  inevitable  nepotism  which  such  a 
system  produced  the  worst  features  of  papal  rule 
may  ultimatel}'  be  traced.  Moreover,  the  peculiar 
relation  in  which  Rome  stood  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  by  virtue  of  her  privileged  position  as  a  papal 
see,  bestowed  some  benefits,  but  also  not  a  few  dis- 
advantages, on  the  inhabitants.  The\'  became  spoiled 
by  the  streams  of  gold  which  pious  persons  from 
other  lands  poured  upon  their  city  ;  they  had  fewer 
motives  for  exerticjn  than  the  citizens  of  Venice,  or 
London,  or  Paris  ;  they  lived,  not  on  an  active  trade, 
but  on  their  own  past  and  other  people's  hopes  of  the 


roxcLUs/ON  365 

future.  The  shadowy  Senators,  the  formal  rights  of 
the  people,  and  all  other  legacies  of  the  old  days, 
when  Rome  was  a  free  city,  came  to  be  mere  names, 
and  the  one  desire  of  the  populace  in  the  later  part 
of  the  Middle  Ages  was  to  be  fed  and  amused.  Still, 
with  all  its  faults,  the  Roman  life  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  now  gone  for  ever  in  this  age  of  trams  and 
taxes,  cannot  have  been  without  its  charm.  The 
dreamy  old  ruins,  which  fired  the  fancy  of  a  Petrarch 
and  a  Rienzi,  looked  more  poetic  in  their  deserted 
savageness  than  the  trimly-kept  excavations  of 
/rt  ter.-da  Roma.  The  ecclesiastical  pageants  which 
formed  so  large  a  part  of  the  mediaeval  life,  have 
now  dwindled  down  to  diminutive  proportions. 
The  costume  has  practically  all  gone,  and  the 
carnival  has  degenerated  into  a  mere  frolic  of  street- 
boys  and  a  few  balls.  The  pessimism,  the  lack 
of  faith,  the  feeling  of  disappointment  after  grand 
illusions,  which  are  characteristic  of  modern  Italy, 
have  made  their  way  into  the  Italian  capital.  Yet 
the  dark  side  of  Mediaeval  Rome,  with  its  feuds  and 
its  fevers,  its  appalling  crimes  and  its  stupendous 
criminals  in  high  places,  its  want  of  principle  and 
its  combination  of  extreme  credulity  and  extreme 
indifference,  enormously  preponderates  over  the 
lighter  aspects  of  the  picture.  But  even  the  great 
faults  of  the  mediaeval  city  cannot  be  judged  without 
reference  to  the  general  conditions  then  almost 
universally  prevalent  in  Southern  Europe.  Die 
Weltgeschichte  ist  das  WeltgericJit ;  but  before  the 
tribunal  of  history,  "  the  City  on  the  Seven  Hills,"  if 
she  may  be  judged  to  have  greatly  sinned,  must  be 


366 


ROME    U.VDER    SLXTUS    V. 


admitted  to  have  greatly  suffered.  Let  us  hope 
that  the  tale  of  her  sufferings  is  complete,  and  that 
the  third  Rome,  which  has  now  entered  on  her  fourth 
decade  may  retain  some  of  the  poetry  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  together  with  that  splendid  inheritance  of 
monuments  which  the  long  succession  of  Popes  has 
handed  down   to  posterity. 


INDEX 


A 

Accoiaiiiboni,  Vitttii  ia,  343-4 

Acqua  Ftlice,  349 

Allies,  Empress,  9 

Albcigo  (id  Sole,  241 

Albert,  of  Austria,  103 

Albigenscs,  60 

Alborno/,  Cardinal,   140-j,   145, 

147,  MM 
Aldobrandiiii,  3 
Alexander  II.,  7-9 
Alexander  III.,  46-1) 
.Vlexander  IV.,  "J-iiio 
Alexander  V.,  159 
Alexander  VI..  194,  217-40,  J48 
Alva,  Duke  uf,  317-19 
Amadei)    VIII.,   of    Savuv.    17^1, 

177,   iSi 
Anacletus  II.,  32,  33 
Anagni,  44,  55,  71,  104,  10s,  120, 

128,  151 
Anastasius  IV,.  3S 
Anibaldi,  93,  244 
Apostles,   Church  uf   the    Holv, 

168 
Aqua  Virgo.  185 
Aquila,  97 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  108 
Aracoeli,  Church  of,  77,  82,  117, 

139,  164,  301,  329,  336 
Arch  of  Severus,  51,  167 
Arch  of  Titus,  54,  167 
Ariosto,  257,  281 
Arlotti,  118 
Arnold   of    P.rescia,   33,   34,   36, 

31),  40,  42-44 


Arval  brotherhuod,  331 

Assisi,  155 

Astura,  86 

Aventine,  the,  20,  60,    110,    111, 

\^- 
Avignon,   sojourn  ui   pupes   al, 

107,     109,    110,    114-150,    152, 


Babuino,  Via  del,  244 

Baiuiticsi,  146,  148,  155 

Hecket,  48,  49 

Belvedere,  the,  2l8,  224,  2()I 

Benedict  IX.,  2,  4 

Benedict  X.,  4-6 

Benedict  XL,  106 

Benedict  XII.,  123-5,  1-7 

Benedict  XIII.  (anti-pope),  49;/, 

155,  159,  161-2 
Benevento,  battle  of,  83,  84 
Benjamin,  of  Tudela,  51 
Bessarion,  196-7 
Bologna,  108,  2^2,  254,  269,  305 
Boniface  VIII.,  98-106,  108,  110, 

120 
Boniface  IX.,  154-6,  164 
Borghese,  Villa,  284 
Borgia,  Ciesar,  219,  222,  229-35, 

240,247-51 
Borgia,    laniily   ol,    190-2.    217, 

222     '?I2 

Borgia,  Lucre/ia,  219,  222,  230-3 
Borgia,  Rodrigo,  sec  Alexander 

VI. 
Borromeo,  Carlo,  324 


368 


/XDF.X 


Bosiu,  Antonio,  33S 

Bosnia,  Queen  Catherine  of,  208, 

Botticelli,  213 

Bourbon,  Constable  de,  295, 
297-8,  300 

Bracciano,  castle  of,  206,  225, 
227 

Bracciolini,  Poggio,  167 

Bramante,  238,  258-64,  286 

Brancaleone,  75-9 

Breakspear,  Nicholas,  sec  Ha- 
drian IV. 

Bruno,  Giordano,  360,  ^62 

Bull-fights,  166 

C 

Cielian,  the,  20,  45,  ill 
Calendar,   the   Gregorian,    338, 

340 
Calixtus  II.,  30,  31,  44 
Calixtus    III.,    190-2,   219,    222, 

237" 
Calixtus  III.  (anti-pope),  48 
Campagna,   the,   1O7,   170,    172, 

174.  175,  210,  354 
Campo  di  Fiore,   18^,  241,  303, 

362 
Campo  Morto,  battle  ot,  209 
Cancelleria,  the,  238,  259,  315 
Canossa,  castle  of,  15,  16,  18,  27 
Capitol,  the,  13,  35,  36,64,  77,  86, 

89,  95,  109,  112,  117,  120,  126, 

133,  134,  183,307,  310,  336 
Caracalla,  baths  of,  308,  310,  326 
Carafa,  trial  of  the,  323,  324 
Cardinals,  college  of,  5,  347 
Carnival,  Roman,  201,  315 
Catacombs,  the,  336-8,  363 
Cecilia  Metella,  tomb  of,  58,  117, 

--5,. 35-^ 
Celestine  II.,  35 
Celestine  III.,  50 
Celestine  V.,  96-9,  103 
Cellini   Benvenuto,  297,  302 
Cenci,  tragedy  of  the,  356-9 
Cciicius,  12,  13 
Charles   I.  (of   Anjou,    King   of 

Naples),  80-4,  86,  87,  89,  92, 

93,  95,   108 


Charles  II.  (of  Naples),  97 
Charles   III.  (of  Durazzo,   King 

of  Naples),  152-4 
Charles  IV.  (Emperor),  141,  14^, 

148 
Charles  V.  (Emperor),  274,  288, 

289,  294,  303-7,  314-6 
Charles  VIII.  (of  France),  217, 

225-7,  2?>>^,  249 
Chiesa  Nuova,  312 
Chigi,  Agostino,  259,  26  r,   267, 

277,  280,  284,  285 
Circus  Maximus,  7,  349 
Clement  III.,  49,  50,  55 
Clement  III.  (anti-pope),  16,  18 

-3,  -5 
Clement  IV.,  81-7 
Clement  V.,  107,  115-9 
Clement  VI.,  127,  129,  135,  138, 

140 
Clement  VII.,  293-305,  346 
Clement   VII.    (anti-pope),    151, 

I 5-.  ^55 

Clement  VIII.,  354-62 

Cnut,  8 

Collegio  Romano,  312,  332 

Colonna,  family  of,  25,  93,  95, 
96,  99,  100,  103,  107,  III,  116, 
121,  123,  129,'  156,  158,  163, 
171,  175,  209,  210,  214,  248, 
250,  294,  317,  323 

Colonna,  Marc  Antonio,  328,  329 

Colonna,  Palazzo,  329 

Colonna,  Stephen,  134 

Colosseum,  the,  20,  54,  58,  111, 
167,  244,  290,  352 

Comnenus,  Alexius,  28 

''  Congregations,"  the,  347 

Conrad  III.  (of  Germany),  35 

Conrad  IV.  (of  Germany),  74,  75 

Conradin,  74,  83,  85-8 

Constance,  Council  of,  161-2 

Conti,  the,  55 

Cornwall,  Richard  of,  71,  74 

Corsi,  the,  25 

Corso,  the,  242 

Cosmas,  family  of,  no 

Crusades,  effect  of,  24 

Cyprus,  Queen  Carlotta  of,  209, 


I.YDEX 


369 


D 

Dante,   83,  86,   92,  93,  98,   102, 

1057/,  106,  118,   164 
De  Spenser,  Henry,  152 
Des  Roches,  Peter,  67 
Diocletian,    haths   of,   326,  332, 

362 
Djem,  216,  217 
Dominicans,  60-2 
Don  Enrique,  84,  85,  87 

E 

Edmund,  of  Lancaster.  74,  80 
Edward  I.  (of  England),  87,  104 
Edward  III.  (of  England),  137, 
146 

Election,  papal,  90,  91 
Elizabeth  (of  England),'^i9,  330, 

348 
England  (and  the  Papacy),  2,  9, 

29,  32,  48,  58,  68,  72,  81,  103, 

104,  146,  152,  177 
Eugenius  III.,  35,  38,  39.  AS 
Eugenius  IV.,  170-6,  178-80 


Farnese,  Palaz/o,  286,  310 
Farnesina,  Villa,  2^9,  284 
Felix  v.,  sec  Amadeo  VIII, 
"  Flagellants,"  the,  80.  123,  156 
Florence,  206,  208,  305 
Fortebraccio,  162,  1O3,  170 
Forum,  state  of  the,  167,  244 
Franciscans,  the,  60,  62,  95,  343 
Frangois  I.  (of  France),  268-70, 

274,  288,  294,  295,  310 
Frangipani,  29,  31,   58,    86,  87, 

III 
Frederick  I.,  Barbarossa,  41-4, 

46-9,  109 
Frederick  II.,  59,  62,  64-73 
Frederick  III.,  178,  186,  193,  203 

G 

Gaetani,  the,  107 

Gandia,  P'rancisco,  Duke  of,  312, 

332 
Gandia,  Juan,  Duke  of,  227-9 
Gelasius  II.,  29 


Genoa,  71,  72 

Gesu,  church  of  the,  312,  331 

Giotto,  no 

Giulio  Romano,  285 

Godfrey,  of  Bouillon,  16 

Gregory  VI.,  2,  3 

Gregory  VII.,  sec  Hildebrand 

Gregory  VIII.  (anti-pope),  29 

Gregory  IX.,  64-71,  108 

Gregory  X.,  89-91 

Gregory  XI.,  149,  150 

Gregory  XII.,  157-61 

Gregory  XIII.,  331-6,  338-40 

Gregory  XIV.,  354 

Grosseteste,  75 

Guiscard,  Robert,  6,  to,  18-20 

H 

Hadrian  IV.,  38-46 
Hadrian  VI.,  220,  289-93 
Hawkwood,  Sir  John,  146,   147, 

Henry  II.  (of  England),  39,  48, 

49  " 
Henrv  III.  (of  England),  64,  68, 

71,74. '"^o 
Henry  III.  (of  Germany),  4 
Henry  IV.  (of  Germany"),  7,  11, 

12,  14-19 
Henrv  IV.  (of  France),  ^40,  iS4. 

35^' 
Henrv  V.  (of  Germany),  26-31 
Henry  V.  (of  England),  160 
Henrv  VI.  (of  Germany),  50,  58 
Henrv  VII.  (of  Germany),  116- 

18,  120,  128,  141 
Henrv  VII.  (of  England),  260 
Henry  VIII.  (of  England),  240, 

257,  268,  269,  295,  303 
Hildebrand,  3-23 
"Holy  Year,"  the,  45,'ioo,  102, 
103,  no,  112,  127,  139,  140,  154, 
156,   168,   182,    185,  ,.205,  212, 
230,  238,  294,  315,  2,2,2,  360 
Honorius  II.,  31 
Honorius  II.  (anti-Pope),  7,  8 
Honorius  III.,  62,  67 
Honorius  IV.,  95,  1 10 
Horse-tamers,  the,  244,  352 


25 


370 


INDEX 


Hospital,  of  the  Hul}-  Ghost  (or, 
di  Santo  Spiiito),  no,  196, 
212,  213,  297 

I 

Iiulc.x  Expiirgatoriiis.  320,  325 

Innocent  II.,  32,  t,} 

Innocent  III.,  53-60,  62,  77,  108, 

109 
Innocent  IV.,  71-5.  77,  100,  108, 

109 
Innocent  VI.,  140,  141,  145 
Innocent  VII.,  156,  157,  164 
Innocent  VIII.   214-18,  224 
Innocent  IX.,  354 
Ine^uisition,    the,    312-14,     319, 

330,  331-  34^ 

J 
Jesuits,  the,  312,  315,  323 
Jews,  the,  54,  144,  164,  225,  241, 

271,  320,  321,  346 
John  (of  England),  58,  68 
John  (of  Salisbury),  44 
John  Palreologus  I.,  148 
John  Pakeologus  II.,  176 
John  XXII.,  119-23 
"John  XXIII.,  159-61,  164 
Jubilee,  sec  "  Holy  Year  " 
"Julius  II.,  212,  249,  250.  252-66, 

300 
Julius  III.,  303,  315,  316,  321 

L 

Ladlslaus  (of  Naples),  156-61 

Lascaris,  246,  280 

Lateran,  the,  8,  28,  29,  31,  33, 
39.  52.  54,  55,59,70,^81",  82,85, 
93,  IC9-II,  115,  117,  130,  136, 
164,  170,  171,  182,  209,  349 

Lausanne,  90,  177,  178 

Leo  IX.,  4,  32 

Leo  X.,  266-87,  305 

Leo  XIII.,  II,  49//,  224,  272.  319 

Leonardo  da  Vinci,  233 

Leonine  City,  the,  18,  19 

Lepanto,  battle  of,  328-30 

Locaiida  dcW  Orso,  334 

Lothaire,  33,  41,  117 


Louis  XII.  (of  France),  253,  254, 

267 
Louis  the  Bavarian,  119-22 
Lovola,  Ignatius,  311,  312,  316, 

343 
Lucius  II.,  35 
Luther,   Martin,   265,   266,   273, 

274,  301,317 
Lyons,  72,  73,  90,  107 

M 

Macbeth,  8 

Machiavelli,  234,  237,  249 
Magliana,  La,  218,  273,  286 
Malatesta  (of  Rimini),  155,  160, 

209 
Manfred,  74,  80-4 
Manuzio,  Aldo,  280 
Manuzio,  Paolo,  325 
Marcellus,  theatre  of,  29,  242 
Marcellus  II.,  316,  325 
Marcus     Aurelius,    column    of, 

351 
Marcus     Aurelius,      equestrian 

statue  of,   137,  212,  308 
Marforio,  241 
Martin  IV.,  93,  95 
Martin    V.,  162,    163,    168,    170, 

171,  180 
Medici,  the,  206,  215    266,  270, 

272,  293,  305,  322 
Michael  Angelo,  240,  260,  262-4, 

285,  308,  326 
Milan,  67,  172,  275 
Monreale,  142,  144 
Montaigne,  334 
Monte  Cassino,  23 
Monte  del  Grano,  362 
Monte  Gargano,  99 
Monte  Porzio,  battle  of,  46 
Monte  Testaccio,  166,  167 
Monti,  the,  346 

X 

Naples,  87,  108,  139 

NaviccUn,  La,  iii 

Navona,  Piazza,  166,  218,  242 

Neri,  San  Filippo,  312,  332,  343 

Nettuno,  86 

Nicholas  II.,  5-7 


INDEX 


171 


Nicholas  III.,  92,  93,  109,  no 
Nicholas  IV.,  95,  96,  352 
Nicholas  V.,  180-90,  260 
Nicholas  V.  (anti-Pope),  122 
Normans,   the,   5,  6,  8,    10,    19, 
23.  .>3 

O 

Orsini,  the,  56,  92,  93,  96,  107, 
III,  116,  123,  124,  156,  206, 
209,  214,  ;_2I5,  225,  227,  234, 
24S,  250,  294,  296,  343,  344 

Orvieto,  304 

Ostia,  81,156,  174,  183,  212,  225, 

259 
Otto  (of  Brunswick),  59 


Pakeologus,  Andrew,  208 
Palneologus,  John  I.,  148 
Palaeologus,  John  II.,  176 
Palasologus,  Thomas,  196,  208 
Palatine,  the,  in,  244 
Palazzo    dei    Conservatori,    79, 

1S5,  1>'^1^  336 
Palazzo  di  Venezia,  201,  226 
Palazzo  Madama,  315 
Palazzo  Spada,  31C) 
Palermo,  73 

Palestrina,  87,  100,  174,  175,  182 
Pantheon,    the,     168,    182,   284, 

362 
Paris,  Matthew,  79,  109 
Paschalis  II.,  25-9 
Paschalis  III.,  47 
Pasquino,  241,  242,  292,  345 
Patricliis,  Office  of,  35,  36,  92 
Paul  II.,  200-3 
Paul  III.,  306-15,  347 
Paul  IV.,  316-22 
Pauline  Chapel,  the,  308 
Pavia,  battle  of,  294 
Pazzi,  conspiracy  of  the,  206 
Perugia,  56,  59,'  65,  74,  84.  95, 

106,  141,  162,  252,  311,  316 
Perugino,  213,  249,  265 
Peter  (of  Courtenay),  62 
Petrarch,  25,  98,  112,  124-7,  135, 

140,  141,  145,  147 


Philip  II.  (of  Spain),  317,  330 
Philippe  III.  (of  France),  89 
Philippe    IV.  (of    France),    103, 

104,  106,  107 
Piazza  del  Campidoglio,  77,  352 
Piazza  di  San  Pietro,  218,  238 
Piccolomini,  .Eneas  Sylvius,  sec 

Pius  II. 
Pierleone,  family  uf,  29,  31,   t,2, 

35 
Pincio,  the,  244,  310 
Pinturicchio,  240 
Pisa,  85,  86,  118,  159 
Pius  II.,  178,  181,  186,  192-9 
Pius  III.,  249 
Pius  IV.,  322-7 
Pius  v.,  324,  327-31,  342,  343 
Pius  VI.,  30,  49// 
Pius  IX.,  29,  43,  49//,     162,     174, 

326 
Pole,  Cardinal,  311,  315 
Pomponius  La;tus,  201-3,  33-^ 
Ponte  Cestio,  51 
Ponte  Nomentano,  183,  234 
Ponte  Rotto,65,  360 
Ponte  Sisto,  212,  213,  298,  305 
Porcaro,      180,     182,     186,    188, 

189 
Porta  Angelica,  326 
Porta     del     Popolo,    226,    244, 

317,326,351 
Porta  Maggiore,  318 
Porta  Metronia,  51 
Porta  Pia,  326 
Porta  San  Gioyanni,  336 
Porta  San  Sebastiano,  328 


Quiruiai,    the,      111,     244,    246, 
308,  310,  314 

K 

Raphael,       259-61,     264,      265, 

279,  282-6 
Ravenna,  battle  of,  256,  266 
Richard  (of  Aversa),  6 
Richard  I.  (of  England),  50 
Richard  II.  (of  England).  153 
Rienzo,     Cola    di,     124,    127-44, 

149    '55 


572 


I.XDEX 


Kipcttii,  the,  228,  244,  287 
Robert    (King   of  Naples),    116, 

118,  122,  125 
Roger  (King  of  Sicily),  33 
Romagna,     the,     92,      95,    123, 

230,  232,  233,  257 
Roman     Academy,      the,      201, 

203,  246,  278,  338 
Roman      University,    the,     108. 

157,  164,  278 
Rudolph  (of  Hapsburg),  90,  92 
Rudolph  (of  Swabia),  i6 


Salerno,  20 

Sta.  Agnese,  convent  of,  6 
Sant'     Angelo,    bridge    of,    42, 
102,    175,  184,    185,  212,    324, 

330,  345,  359 
Sant'   Angelo,   castle   of,    8,  18, 
19,    25,    139,    152,    155,     164. 
172,    184,    188,  229,  238,   250, 
294,   297,  302,  322,  323,    345, 

35Q 
Sant'      Angelo     in     Pescheria, 

132 
Sant'   Andrea   della  Valle,    198, 

362 
Santi  Apostoli,  Piazza  dei,  204 
St.  Bernard,  33,  34,  36,  38 
St.  Bridget,  148,  149 
Sta.    Caterina    di     Siena,     149, 

152 
Sta.   Caterina  di  Siena,   church 

of,  326 
St.  Dominic,  60 
Sta.  Francesca  Romana,  150 
San  Francesco  a  Ripa,  60 
St.  Francis  (of  Assisi),  60 
San   Giacomo   degli    Spagnioh, 

218,  299 
San  Giorgio  in  Velabro,  131 
San  Giovanni  della  Pigna,  180 
San  Giovanni  in  Laterano,  100 
Santi  Giovanni  e  Paolo,  Church 

of,  45 
San    Girolamo  degli   SchiavDui, 

352 
San  Gregorio.  45 


San    Lorenzo-fuori-le-mura,    62, 

185 
San  Lorenzo,  gate  of,  19 
Sta.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  326 
Sta.   Maria    dell'    Anima,     238, 

285,  293,  299 
Sta.  Maria  on  the  Aventine,  3 
Sta.  Maria  in  Cosmedin,  52 
Sta.  Maria  in  Domnica,  285 
Sta.  Maria  Liberatrice,  307 
Sta.    Maria    Maggiore.    12,    13, 

66,  no.  III,  185,  330,  352 
Sta.  Maria   sopra   Minerva,   no, 

264,  285,  305,  310,  322,  324 
Sta.   Maria    di    Monserrato,  237, 

23« 

Sta.  Maria  della  Pace,  209,  212, 
214,  259,  284 

Sta.  Maria  del  Popolo,  212. 
214,  256,  262,  284,  285,  299 

Sta.  Maria  in  Trastevere,  52 

Sla.  Maria  in  via  Lata,  218 

San  Marino,  Republic  of,  76, 
159,  233,253,  311 

Sant'  Onofrio,  297,  360 

St.  Paul-outside-the-Walls,  or, 
fuori-le-mura,  38,  185 

St.  Peter's,  2,  8,  11,  16,  it,,  26, 
27,  39,  42,  45,  47,  62,  64,  70, 
82,  109,  117,  120,  126,  148, 
164,  170,  182,  185,  186,  218, 
219,    240,    259-61,   336,    340, 

351-  356 
San   Pietro    in    Montorio,     241, 

259-  359 
San  Pietro  in  Vincoli,  212,  262 
Sta.  Prassede,  324,  337 
Sta.  Sabina,  60,  117,  181 
SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus,  51 
Sta.  Trinita  dei  Monti,  238 
Sta.      Trinita      dei     Pellegrini, 

196,  332 
Sangallo,  Antonio  di,  201 
Sangallo,      Antonio      di       (the 

Younger),  308 
Sangallo,  Giuliano  di,  259,  260 
Savelli,  the,  93,  in,  209,  242 
Srulii  Saiitti,  the,  330,  341; 
Schola  Xantha,  307 
Senate,  33,  35,  36,  41,  42 


IXDF.X 


373 


SciiUtur,  the,  66,  76-8,  81, 
87,  89,  92,  93,  95,  109, 
118,  t25,  J41,  145,  155, 
168 

Septizonium  of  Severus,  the, 

Sforza.  Attendolo,  162 

Slor/.a,  Francesco,  17J 

Sicihan  Vespers,  the,  94.  95 

Siena,  5,  85,  118,  186,  192, 
219 

Sigismuncl        (Emperor), 
161,  171,  172 

Sistine  Chapel,  the,  212, 
298,  308,  32O 

Sixtus  iV.,  203-14,  300 

Sixtus  v.,  341-53 

Skanderbeg,  195,  -03 

Soana,  3 

Sohnona,  96,  07 

Stephen  IX.,  4 

"  Strongarni,"  > 

Sutri,  4,  30 

Swiss  Guard,  163 


^4, 
115. 
162, 


198, 
1 60, 


Kortehraccio 


Taghacozzo,  battle  of,  86 
Tarpeian  Rock,  the,  242 
Tartarughe,  Fontana  delie,  33() 
Tasso,  325,  332,  360 
Tenne,  Fontana  delle,  2,^2 
Tiber,   inundations    of    the,  05, 

227,  305,  359,  360 
Tiburtius,  194 
Titian,  314 

Tivoh,  33,  145,  194,  316 
Torre  deiCoiiti,  112 
Torre  dellc  Milizie,  1 1 2 
Trajan's  Column,  25.  51,35' 
Trajan's  Forum,  246,  326 
Trevi  fountain,  the,  185,  244 
Trophies  of  Marius,  the.  352 
Turks,   the    (and    the    Papacy), 
147,   176,    185,  186,    189,  191, 
194-7,  -00,  203,  204,  206,  208, 
216,  217,    225,  232,  292,    311, 
327,  330,  356 
Tuscany,     Countess    Matilda  of, 

10,  15 
Tuscanv,  Margrave  of.  5,  7.  8 


U 

Urban  II.,  24  25 
Urban  IV.,  80,  81,  108    • 
Urban  V.,  147-9 
Urban  VI.,  15 1-4 
Urban  VII.,  354 
Urbino,  155,  233,  270,  272 

V 

Valerianus.  194 

Vatican,     the,    -,2,    85,    93,    106. 

ioi>,    111,   117,   121,    150,    155, 

157,    1O4,    170,    190,   238,  240, 

264,  2^2,  284,  310,351 
Vatican      Librarx',      the,        189, 

191,  212,  300,  T^2~, 
Vatican,  Museum,  the,  -4,  2()\ 
Venice,  252,  253 
Victor  II.,  4 
Victor  III.,  23 
Victor  IV.,  46 
Via  Alessandrina,  331 
Via  Giuha,  258 
Via  Lungara,  258 
Via  Merulana,  336 
Via  delle  Quattro  Fontane,  352 
Via  Sistina,  352 
Via  Tordinona,  323 
Villa  d'Este,  316,  325 
Villa  Madama,  285 
Villa  Mattei,336 
Villa  Medici,  310 
Villa  di  Papa  Giulio,  316 
Vitelleschi,  174-6 
Viterbo,    67,    78,    85,    no.    157, 

225 


Walther 
56,  59 


W 

von    der 


Vogelweide, 


"White  Company,"  the,  146 
William  I.  (of  England),  9 
William  I.  (of  Sicily),  43 
Wolsev,  Cardinal,  269,  288,303 


Xavier,  St.-P'ran^ois,  312 


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Post  8w».,  fach  Volume  containing  about  C)00  pages,  and  an  etched 
Frontiipiece,  cloth,  3s.   6d.  each. 


1.  The  Best  Plays  of  Christopher 

Marlowe.  Edited  by  Havei.ock 
Ellis,  and  coiU.'unin;^  a  Gi.ni.-ral 
IntroducUon  to  the  Series  by  John 
Addington  Symoxds. 

2.  The  Best  Plays  of  Thomas  Ot- 

way.  Introduction  by  the  Hon. 
kuuKN'  Noll. 

3  The  Best  Plays  of  John  Ford. — 

Hdite.!  by  Havelock  Ellis. 

4  nnd  5.  The  Best  Plays  of  Thomafl 

Massinger.      Essay    and    Notes    by 

AKfilL-K    SVMO.VS. 

6.  The  Best  Plays  of  Thomas  liey- 
wood,  EdUed  by  A  W.  VlivIty. 
Intioduction  by  J.  A.  SymO.NDS. 

7.  The  Complete  Plays  of  William 
Wycherley.  Edited  by  \V.  C. 
Ward. 

8.  Nero,  and  other  Plays.  Edited 
by  H.  P.  HoRNK,  Akthur  Symo.mu, 
A.  W.  Verity,  and  H.  Ellis. 

9  and  10.  The  Best  Plays  of  Beau- 
mont and  Fletcher.  Introduction 
by  J.  St.  Loe  Strachey. 

II.  The  Complete  Playsof  Williara 
Congreve.  Edited  by  Ai-EX.  C 
Ewald. 


12.  The  Best  Playsof  Webster  aad 

Tourneur.      Introduction    by    Juhn 

ADUI.NciTO.V  SVMONUS. 

13   and   14.     The    Best    Plays     of 

Thomas    Micidl^ton.        Introduction 

by  Algernon  Cii.^kles  buixBLKNs. 

15.  The  Best  Plays  of  James  Shir- 
ley.        Introduction     by      Ed.ml.nD 

GOSSE. 

16.  The  Best  Plays  of  Thomas 
Dekker.     Notes  by  Ernest  kiivs. 

T7,  19,  and  20.  The  Best  Plays  of 
Ben  Jonson.  Vol.  I.  edited,  uuh 
Introduction  and  Notes,  bv  liKlNSLtV 
NiCHOLSO.N  and  C.  H.  Herfoku. 

18.  The  Complete  Plays  of  Richard 

Eleele.      Edited,    uuh     Introduction 
and  Notes,  by  G.  A.  Aitken. 

21.  The  Best  Plays  of  George  Chap' 
raan.  Edited  by  \\'iLi.L\.\i  Lvo.N 
Ph ELI'S.  Instructor  of  Eni;lish  Litera- 
ture at  Yale  College. 

22.  The  Select  Plays  of  Sir  Jotia 

Vanbrugb.     Edited,   with   an   liuio- 
duc'ion    and     Notes,    by    A.    L.    H. 

SWAEJi. 


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